Teaching Methods That Impact on Student Retention

The Basic Academic Strengths Enrichment (BASE) Project at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College began with instruction in learning theory in 1989 by Dr. Mary S. Woodburn of Longwood College and continues with cross-disciplinary and crosscampus discussions of methods like those reported here. One guiding principle was to teach the "whole student" by developing methods that drew out students to monitor their learning (metacognition); to master content (cognition); and to have positive experiences (affect) in our developmental and credit courses, including learning by doing (psychomotor skills).

Some methods are simply principles, such as having math students put rules and equations into words. Some methods are demonstrations, such as using Lewis Carroll's "Twas Brillig" to show students the nature of answering questions without full understanding of content (and revealing to students their inherent knowledge of syntax). The cross-disciplinary focus included using "cloze" passages (demonstrated by a reading teacher) in math to show the value of context and to test crucial math terms. It stressed the importance of reading for math students by training them to read math using a three-page manual and demonstrating the benefits of slowing down, re-reading, reading with pencil and paper in order to try out samples, and many other suggestions for active reading in math texts. Such techniques cause students to monitor their understanding; they train students in ways to enhance their learning, and they work on students' attitudes about courses like math and English by getting students to learn by doing. Other methods, like those shown below, involve frameworks or patterns for organizing one lesson by using doubling, selected lessons by using the yarn sort, or whole courses by using a response journal and related activities.

Doubling Doubling can be applied to many tasks. The basic routine is to have students try the task on their own first, then to compare their results with a peer's results on the task, and finally to present the peer's results to another pair of students to discuss all results. Suggested tasks in the writing classroom include sentence-combining, judging the merits of a sample or model or completing part of an exercise. In the demonstration below, a sentence-combining passage is offered to show the pedagogical and social rewards of doubling. The activity is "holistic" in that it causes students to monitor their work compared with that of peers (so it is metacognitive). Sentence-combining takes advantage of writers' native sense of English, so the activity has a cognitive dimension. Doubling forces students to regard each other's work and to speak and listen for the good of the pair and the group; this social dimension is affective, and usually it is fun.

The Yarn Sort The Yarn Sort involves hands-on activities, peer interaction, and color. Added interest and variety in classroom activities creates an improved focus on the subject under study. This technique was piloted first with faculty participants in the BASE project and then used repeatedly with mathematics students during the past three semesters with successful results. Although the discipline represented is mathematics, suggestions are included for modifying the technique for other content areas. The "Yarn Sort" activity is suitable for varied levels of mathematics as the examples will show. The activity requires some planning and preparation of materials, but its benefits have proved worthwhile as measured by feedback from students. In a yarn sort activity, students are given one or more pieces of colored yarn each (per pair if the students are working together). Students are also given two sets of slips of paper, with each set printed on a different colored paper. One set of slips represents categories; the other represents examples. The yarn is configured so that each category slip fits in a section of the desk top segmented by the yarn. It is helpful if the students are provided with scissors. Students cut apart category slips and example slips, with the instructor asking them to direct their thinking as they are cutting to what the categories mean. Then students sort the examples by category, placing the examples in the appropriate section identified by the proper category slip.