Thoughts on group work and presentation

Today I went to see an upper division class thought by a renowned teacher in my department. Students we having group presentations, regarding some independent research project they carried out. I was there to get hints on class management and teaching style, and I got a couple of interesting tips.

The most significant were ways to keep students engaged during these final presentations:

- presentation topics are interesting, expand the class material and make students think outside of the box;

- have groups arranged so that each group is assigned to ask questions to another;

- the material presented is useful for the final exam;

- each group created a 2-page hand-out summarizing their project, to distribute in class. The collection of hand-out constitutes a reference booklet that students can consult later on.