During the discussion, the teacher asks directive questions that point to the relevant concepts students need to recall from their subsequent self-study¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The article recommends that the PBL teacher "ask directive questions which point more directly to the relevant concepts students need to recall from their self-study after the discussion," thereby retrieving relevant prior knowledge from students. In the experiment, the teacher on video asked eight questions designed to relate concepts from the prior-knowledge sentences to each other and to the problem, prompting participants to generate new relationships. The summary recommendation is that teachers might improve recall by offering relevant prior knowledge before the discussion and asking questions during it to retrieve this knowledge.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• A teacher or facilitator present during the discussion who can pose questions tied to the concepts to be studied afterwards

Constraints¶

• The strategy was tested with a video-simulated discussion of roughly 20 minutes, which the authors note may not represent a real-life situation

Target Learners¶

• students in problem-based learning tutorials or small-group discussions

Target Learning Goals¶

• recall from subsequent self-study of text material related to the discussion

Related Strategies¶

• Give Hints and Clues to Help Students Answer Questions
• Activating Prior Knowledge

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• Floris M. Van Blankenstein, Diana H. J. M. Dolmans, Cees P. M. Van der Vleuten, Henk G. Schmidt. (2013). Relevant prior knowledge moderates the effect of elaboration during small group discussion on academic achievement. Instructional Science, 41, 729-744. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11251-012-9252-3