Why do students ask what’s going to be on the exam? This question can come after you have:
placed learning objectives in your syllabus,
provided students with a course packet, and
spent weeks lecturing and providing lab or discussion activities related to what is going to be on the exam.
As college-level instructors, we have high expectations for our subjects and our students. However, we can forget what it’s like to be a learner in their first or second year of college, especially if we didn’t struggle with passing courses in high school or during our undergraduate experience. Students come to college at all different levels in a variety of different subjects, and can get overwhelmed, particularly if they did not develop the type of study skills that are needed to be successful in college. It can be useful to some students to explain how to incorporate strategies into your course content, whenever possible to help students be successful in the first- and second-year courses you teach. One such approach is Scaffolding.
To achieve these high expectations, we should aim high and build in scaffolds for all students to reach the top level, as suggested by Oakley, et al., (2021, pp. 27-29) and Tomlinson and Javius (2012).During scaffolded instruction, students move incrementally (via ‘scaffolds’) towards a deeper understanding of material and concept, enabling them to gradually build understanding. Consider how the learning styles approach can help to scaffold instruction to support and enhance student learning. The scaffolding strategies below can reach all types of learners, considering differences in learning styles, learning speeds, and memory capacities (Alber, 2011 and “Scaffolding,” n.d.):
Incorporate all four learning preferences (Visual, Aural, Read/write, Kinesthetic) into your instruction (e.g., in materials, lessons, class activities, and assignments) https://youtu.be/855Now8h5Rs (go to 9:46)
Break information into small steps or “chunks” https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/15451100 (Chapter 2; available via interlibrary loan).
Add in “brain breaks” through intentional pauses and activities https://tophat.com/blog/brain-breaks/
Allow students to choose from different types of problems to extend concepts
Meet with individuals or small groups of students to reteach and reinforce a class concept
Allow more time by having flexible deadlines for projects: https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/just-visiting/deadlines-real-world
Break down a complex problem into small, manageable steps https://www.learning.com/blog/decomposition-in-computational-thinking/
Go beyond simple factual questions and explore how concepts connect
Resources:
Alber, R. (2011, May 24). 6 Scaffolding Strategies to Use With Your Students [Web log post]. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/scaffolding-lessons-six-strategies-rebecca-alber
Oakley, B., Rogowsky, B., & Sejnowski, T. J. (2021). Uncommon Sense Teaching: Practical Insights in Brain Science to Help Students Learn. New York, NY: Tarcher Perigee. https://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/19574677
Tomlinson, C. A., & Javius, E. L. (2012). Teach Up for Excellence. Educational Leadership, 69(5), 28-33. Retrieved April 05, 2021, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/feb12/vol69/num05/Teach-Up-for-Excellence.aspx