PURPOSE
To help students assess and reflect on how they learn by prompting them to paraphrase a concept or lecture topic. |
DESCRIPTION
Following guidelines, students explain a new concept in their own words. As part of the paraphrase activity, students are directed to explain to a specific audience. |
UNDERLYING EDUCATIONAL THEORIES
self-reflection, meta learning, paraphrasing |
PEDAGOGICAL BENEFITS
- Directed paraphrase calls upon students to synthesize their own understanding.
- Paraphrasing a concept for a specific audience can support students in developing empathy as well as confidence.
- Paraphrasing can help students to assess their own learning and identify weak points.
- Paraphrasing can motivate students to engage more deeply with material so that they have stronger learning outcomes and are able to successfully complete the activity.
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STRATEGIES FOR IMPLEMENTATION
- In developing a lesson plan, identify key concepts or takeaways. These can become candidates for students’ paraphrasing.
- Develop a prompt that specifies what and how students should paraphrase. Be sure to specify the content as well as the audience.
- Create samples or examples to demonstrate to students and plan to answer questions prior to beginning the activity.
- Allow time, either individually or in group discussion, for students to reflect on their experiences during the paraphrasing activity.
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REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING
Rüütmann, T., & Kipper, H. (2011, September). Teaching strategies for direct and indirect instruction in teaching engineering. In 2011 14th International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (pp. 107-114). IEEE.
Angelo, T. A., & Cross, K. P. (2012). Classroom assessment techniques, 281-184, Jossey-Bass / Wiley.
Directed paraphrasing. (2019). https://app.griffith.edu.au/exlnt/entry/8609/view |