An hour (or even 50 minutes) is a long time to listen and
concentrate. As we have seen, concentration and retention
rapidly diminishes after 20 minutes. Not only should student
learning be as active as possible, it should be efficient.
Ideally, a student should be able to: These can all be aided by
a careful use of activities in lectures and this section
examines different types of activity that could be used. The
inclusion of activities comes at the expense of time the
lecturer would otherwise spend in talking to the students. The
case for using activities is that the breadth and depth of
students’ understanding is increased even though the sheer
quantity of information communicated by the lecturer is reduced.
Top Tip 6: The more active the participation of students, the
longer and better will they be able to concentrate. One of the
most effective ways of making learning a more active process and
helping students to check on their understanding and learn from
their mistakes is to give them questions. The sim