Adding a student-generated summary of main points to a lecture as a learning tool in an advanced nutrition course

Abstract Text: Learning-centered classrooms encourage students to focus on the thinking required to master a concept. Previous work has suggested that increasing the number of focused engagement activities such as Turn To Your Partner (TTYP) within a class period enhances student retention of information in an advanced animal science course. The TTYP activity allows at least 3 opportunities to think about the learning, as the student generates his/her own answer, discusses it with a partner, and participates in whole class discussion. Starting each class period with a defined set of learning outcomes provides focus to the lecture and provides an outline from which students can study. Similarly, a structured ending to a class period that includes a review of the most salient points from a lecture could be beneficial to student learning. Students in a senior level animal nutrition course (n = 34 students) were asked to generate overall summary statements at the end of lecture (n = 23 lectures in the semester). During the last 5 minutes of class, students were asked to compile summary points from the lecture using the TTYP format. Students were given approximately 2 minutes to generate a list of 3 to 5 primary summary points from the day’s lecture material or discussion. They were then allowed to work with a partner for another minute, and then brought back to group discussion. Students were held accountable for their learning by being called on at random to share what they and their partner had identified as a critical summary point for the day’s material. This continued until all points were exhausted. Critical opportunities for student development included the opportunity for the instructor to correct misconceptions, and for students to develop better note taking and summarizing skills. Students gave feedback halfway through the semester and 80% specifically mentioned that summary point generation was a factor in class that positively affected their learning. Twenty-three students completed the final anonymous course evaluation, and 87% replied to the question “what helped your learning most in this class?” Of those replies, 100% indicated the TTYP and summary exercise were beneficial in their learning. Including a summary exercise at the end of each class was a positive addition to an advanced nutrition course and contributed to the success of students.

Keywords: Learning, summary points, undergraduate