Engage to Retain: Active Learning at the Conclusion of Traditional Lectures

In traditional classroom settings, student engagement tends to decline during lectures, which is most noticeable near the end of class, when the focus of students turns on the clock rather than the lecture content.This disengagement often manifests as premature packing up of materials and early departures from the class.The final 10 minutes are often ineffective.This paper describes the impact of concluding lectures with an active learning activity to increase student attention, participation and learning.The activities can range from asking students to summarizing key lecture points, identify confusing topics, applying concepts, or solving problems in detail.All of these have been used, with the most effective end-of-class activity being problem solving.The authors conclude that ending lectures with active learning activity has improved student attentiveness by 13 to 20%, and increased opportunities to emphasize the important points in the course.Exam scores were found to be 10 to 20% higher compared to previous semesters when active learning activities were not used to conclude lectures.