This follow up activity activates the knowledge students have already gained by attending the course. Instead of telling the students what they have already been taught, the students get to reflect upon what they have learned. This not only builds a solid framework where new themes and theories might be introduced and brought into play. It furthermore gives you, as a teacher, the ability to assess how much and how well the students have achieved the learning goals of the course.
The exercise consists of three parts. In the first part, the students work individually and in the second part they work in pairs. In the last part, they develop a mind map in plenum containing the most central concepts of the course.
A3 sheets of paper and pencils are handed out; one set per student. The students are asked to do a mind map, individually mapping all the concepts, theories, historical events etc. within the field, the class have worked with up until then. The students are encouraged to look through their notes but are not allowed to talk.
After 5-10 minutes you interrupt the students. Tell them to pick three words, which they find central to the understanding of the field you are or have been working with. They only have a couple of minutes to decide.
When the students have decided on three words each you ask them to pair up. Two and two, they have to explain to one another which words they have chosen and argue why they find them central to the understanding of the field of inquiry.
After 10 minutes you ask the students, still in pairs, to discuss how their words relate to each other’s; are they conflicting, are they part of the same process etc.
After another 10 minutes you ask the students, still in pairs, to choose maximum four key words, which do not necessarily need to be the same as the ones they started out with. They have to share these words with the rest of the class via a shared Padlet.
The Padlet interface is showing on the Blackboard.
Finally, you and the students collectively discuss the words they have chosen; why are those words important, how are they related, etc. If you find that central concepts seem to be missing in their conception and understanding of the field, you can add these to the Padlet and explain to the students why these are not to be forgotten.
The students get a strengthened understanding of the field you are working with. Moreover, they get accustomed to the different concepts and how the concepts are related. Finally, they get used to talking about the concepts, the theories, etc. and develop the ability to argue and discuss.
The activity is time consuming but is highly rewarding for both students as well as for you as a teacher. Especially considering that it does not take hours to prepare, quite the opposite. The activity might not work that well if the class is bigger than 30–35 students.
Faculty: Arts
Degree Programme: Art History, Aesthetics and Culture
Course: Views on the City, profile elective
Study level: BA (4th semester)
Course size: Max 30 students
Teaching method: Small class teaching
Extent: Activity
Primary type of activity: Discussion / Collaboration
How the case was conducted: Campus teaching
The goal of the activity is for the students to be able to name, list, describe and relate main concepts, taught previously in the course - hereby assessing how much or how well the students meet the overall learning goals of the course. The central learning outcome is a collective mind map, mapping the main concepts of the course, which might set the scene for the following lecture.
