Silent Minds

I was standing at the back of the lecture hall while another instructor was presenting and looked out at the sea of student heads. That is when I heard it; the deafening silence of brains put on hold. I sensed a total lack of thinking going on in the room. Students were not absorbing the lesson; they were merely enduring the lecture.

It came time for me to face my own classes. As I now looked at the front of student heads, I paid attention for signs of thought. What I became aware of were brains shifting down to idle. I resorted to an old standby to spark student attention. “Page 52,” I announced, “is important. This will be on the exam!” Even the backbenchers woke up with that announcement. But I still didn’t have them thinking.

I am aware of the different approaches to stimulating student thinking. Questions are a common approach. I find, however, that students typically go through the motions of answering questions without giving deep thought to their answers. (This may be an adequate depth of thought for politicians but I seek more for my students.) An approach I do find that sparks thinking is to short-circuit the students’ minds. This can be done by exposing students to a new perspective on something they thought they already knew. Now they are not so sure they know what they know. First I see confused looks on the faces of students; then the frowns. It is at this point I hear the whir of brains starting up. I know they are thinking when I begin to see smiles break out as students begin to grasp the new perspective. I know they are really thinking when I hear laughter. It doesn’t mean they all agree with the new perspective, but they are assessing it. Now learning can begin.