Dear TRC:

Dear TRC:

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Not all of the students seem to be following along with me as I lecture. What are they thinking as they sit in class?

There are several ways to answer this important question. A general answer is that students often have enough time on their hands, even as they sit in class and listen, to think about several things at the same time. None of us puts 100 percent of our attention to a lecture for long periods of time. Instead, attention waxes and wanes.

We also know that students have seven developmental tasks they are working on during the college years: achieving intellectual, physical, and social competence; managing emotions; becoming autonomous; establishing identity; managing interpersonal relationships; clarifying purpose; and developing integrity (Chickering, 1969). At times, students are probably thinking about these other things, rather than about purely intellectual pursuits.

But good teachers will also want to know a more specific answer. In fact, a set of techniques has been developed to get at the question, “What are students thinking?” They are called Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs), and were developed by Angelo and Cross (1993). There are many varied CATs that can be used. The most important things is that they are quick to use, easy to interpret, and provide a wealth of information about our students' thinking, so we can have a better idea of what is going on with our students.

Using a CAT is a little like asking a research question. Is there something you would like to know about your specific students in your specific course? CATs can get at:

What do students come to my course knowing (or thinking they know)?
What are they thinking at any moment in class?
What did they get out of today's class compared to what I wanted them to get?
What are they thinking when they study (or how did they go about answering a problem)?

CATs are feedback devices to help us determine how much, how well, and simply how our students learn. TRC staff can help you identify the question you would like to ask about your students' learning and adapt a CAT to your topic. Many faculty on the Bloomington campus are beginning to use them regularly.

References

Angelo, T. A., and Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A handbook for college teachers. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Chickering, A. (1969). Education and identity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Dear TRC: Not all of the students seem to be following along with me as I lecture. What are they thinking as they sit in class? Teaching Resources Center, Indiana University 7(2).