Engaging Students During Presentations
(Adapted with the kind permission of Ellen Sarkisian, Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning, Harvard University, from her adaptation of Participatory Lectures, 1994.)

Begin with a question or questions that help you understand what your listeners are thinking or what their relevant experiences are.

• e.g., What is the historical context of War and Peace? Why might we be interested in the origins of Spanish? How many of you have traveled outside the United States?

If background reading or preparation has been assigned, ask questions about them to review and integrate that information.

• e.g., During World War II, how was the French Underground formed? What were some of the economic and sociological factors that contributed to the rise of Naturalism?

Pose a problem (perhaps at the beginning of your talk) and elicit several answers or solutions. You can then explore and build on these.

• e.g., Why do you think it's so hard to develop a native accent? Why might so many people from other countries fought in the Spanish Civil War?

Ask students to raise their hands to answer, to vote, in effect.

• e.g., What is the direction of the data? Who thinks it's increasing? decreasing?

Use questions with surprising answers or with answers that are counter-intuitive.

• e.g., What is the probability that two people in this room have the same birthday? How many Muslims live in France?

Use thought-provoking questions and questions without a right answer.

• e.g., Do you think U.S. policy toward Haiti has become more or less strict in the last twenty years? Which references could you use to support your position?

After making a major point, ask a question that allows listeners to apply that information. If you have time and the information warrants it, ask them to vote on the right answer, then turn to their neighbors and persuade them of the answer within the space of two minutes. When the time is up, ask them to vote again (you should get more correct answers). (cf. Mazur, ??)

• e.g., Now that we've studied the effect of velocity on the driver of a car suddenly stopped from 40 miles per hour, what do you think would happen to the driver stopped while going backward? Would she feel pushed forward, backward, or neither?

Give your listeners opportunities, when appropriate, to write down answers before discussing them.

Solicit questions throughout the presentation, when appropriate, and at the end.