Supporting physics teaching with research-based resources

Quick tips from the Faculty Teaching Institute about how to motivate your students to learn.

Give students choices such as paper, project, or discussion topics, and/or format for showing their learning in an assignment (e.g., paper, poster, short video).

Do a weekly goal-setting exercise with your students. You can give students a question or task at the beginning of class that they should be able to answer or execute by the end of class, to help them plan their learning.

Give students clear expectations with your syllabus and assignments. Provide students with targeted feedback, rubrics and exemplary pieces of work.

Provide students with early opportunities for success. For example, start assignments with achievable questions. Ask students a question that they will be able to answer by the end of class.

Help students get to know each other. Use get-acquainted activities and group learning.

Discuss fixed versus growth mindset and emotions with your students. Tell students about your own struggles in your journey. Normalize making mistakes and learning to improve.

Do reflection activities with students. Ask students to reflect on how they have previously achieved mastery. You can use one class session to discuss metacognitive learning strategies; see McGuire (2015) for many examples.

Connect to students’ values and interests. Find out what students care about, and assign authentic, real-world projects.

Mix things up to keep things fun and interesting. You might introduce “switch days” when students have the opportunity to teach and give another student feedback on their teaching, and play learning games. For every 10-15 minutes of class, do a 1-2 minute interactive activity.

This Expert Recommendation is based in part on S.Y. McGuire, Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate Into Any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation (Routledge, New York, 2015).