A lecture on personality traits gave colleague Amaranta de Haan the idea for this teaching activity. Beforehand, students voluntarily and anonymously answered questions related to the subject of the lecture. The collected data were used in the lecture to explain characteristics of the group and to discuss basic statistics.
- Activity goal
- Activate prior knowledge | Exchange knowledge
- When
- In class | Pre class
- Where
- Offline | Online
- Duration
- < 10 minutes| < 30 minutes
- Group size
- Small | Medium | Large
- Materials
Mentimeter, Zoom, MS Teams
Step-by-step
Step 1
Create a questionnaire with quantifiable data that relates to your students and the topic of your lecture. You can put the questions in an online tool like Mentimeter. This makes it easy to show the answers in graphs during the lecture. Set Mentimeter up so that you, as a participant, cannot see the results after you have completed them.
Step 2
Send the questions to the students prior to the lecture with clear instructions (and a reminder if necessary). This gives you the chance to adjust your preparation to their answers. Another option is to have the students answer the questions one by one during the lecture.
Step 3
Use the data to discuss the concepts you want to clarify and to explain statistical principles.
Tip 1
This teaching activity is a contribution by Amaranta de Haan, Assistant Professor of Clinical Child and Family Studies (ESSB). In preparation for a lecture on personality traits, she had students voluntarily complete a questionnaire on personality traits. While handling the statistics in the lecture room, she immediately noticed that the students reacted spontaneously to the results shown. They engaged in conversation, asked questions and had fun with the answers. In short, a good way to activate and involve students.
MSTeams or Zoom for online participation. You can use Mentimeter to easily ask students a number of questions and immediately present the answers as diagrams. The EUR has a license for Mentimeter. You can apply for an account through the IT Service Desk.
Consider the tools and materials mentioned here as suggestions. In many cases it’s possible to use alternative tools. Please turn to the Learning & Innovation team of your faculty first to see which online and offline tools are available and how to apply them.
Step-by-step
Step 1
Create a questionnaire with quantifiable data that relates to your students and the topic of your lecture. You can put the questions in an online tool like Mentimeter. This makes it easy to show the answers in graphs during the lecture. Set Mentimeter up so that you, as a participant, cannot see the results after you have completed them.
Step 2
Send the questions to the students prior to the lecture with clear instructions (and a reminder if necessary). This gives you the chance to adjust your preparation to their answers. Another option is to have the students answer the questions one by one during the lecture.
Step 3
Use the data to discuss the concepts you want to clarify and to explain statistical principles.
