Now that the semester is over, I wanted to check and see if anyone else has
noticed what I found to be an interesting observation.   I can't believe
I've never noticed it before.  I've been using TBL for 3 years now and I
just noticed something about student engagement during the T-RATs.  About
mid way through the semester, I started noticing when my classes were taking
the T-RAT how many students in each group had a pen in there hand.  One
class period I actually documented it.  The higher performing groups had all
or most of the members with a pen in their hand evethough only one student
was recording the answers.  Since I use clickers, typically one student will
hold the paper form of the test, read the questions out loud and then mark
the agreed upon answer.  Another student will hold the clicker and enter the
answers either as they work through the T-RAT or at the end.  It was the pen
holding behavior that I found particularly interesting.  In one high
performing group, not only did everyone have their pen in their hand but
they gestured with it often pointing to items on the paper and frequently
one or more student would draw a diagram in the white space to explain a
concept.

Even more intriguing is that the lower performing teams often only had one
person with pen in hand.  Their body language also suggested less
involvement (leaning back, slouching vs. leaning forward toward the group
and the paper).

Next semester, I plan to pay closer attention and document during each T-RAT
the pen holding behavior and body positions of individuals and groups during
T-RAT's.




-- 

Herb Coleman, Ph.D
Dir. Instructional Computing and Technology
Adjunct Professor of Psychology
Austin Community College
Highland Business Center
5930 Middle Fiskville Rd.
Austin, TX 78752
[log in to unmask]
512-223-7746
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“Life, only really has one beginning and one end
...and the rest is just a whole lot of middle...
who cares what happens when we get there...
when the getting there has been so much fun.”

---Mr. Schuster
    from the TV show "Glee"
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