Classroom Activities to Engage Students

Michelle Deck, RN, MEd

An essential skill needed to be an effective educator is the ability to engage a diverse group of
learners throughout a lesson, whether it is a short one or a long one. The abundance of content that
must be learned and mastered by nursing students can be overwhelming. Using active learning
strategies can be the solution to this challenge. Some participants experience these and call them
games. However there is a big difference between a game and an interactive learning activity (ILA).

A GAME is defined as an activity engaged in for diversion or amusement. (http://www.merriam-

webster.com/dictionary/game)
An INTERACTIVE LEARNING ACTIVITY (ILA) is an activity engaged in to change attitudes, teach
content, or practice skills.

With two very diverse purposes, many educators choose not to use ILAs in their classes, thinking
a method that incorporates fun is a waste of time. These two terms and how they are used to teach and
reinforce nursing content are polar opposites.

Why should you use learning methods such as ILAs? There are many benefits to consider. Here
are the top five things to know about using interactive learning activities successfully:

1. ILAs lower learner anxiety

2. ILAs can offer visual and hands-on practice with content learned in a lecture.
3. Make sure your learners know the purpose of the ILA before it starts and after it ends.
4. It is a misconception that using ILAs takes more time then lecturing.
5. The best place to try your first ILA is with your most challenging content that gives poor results
as you currently teach it.

Lets explore these in more depth.

1. ILAs lower learner anxiety.

With the diverse population of people attending nursing schools today, we encounter some who
have not been in school for some time, and are returning with anxiety about the process. Will they
remember how to study? Where will they find the time with jobs, children, and all of lifes demands?

Other learners may not have been the most successful students, but they find themselves
desiring a nursing career, which requires intense understanding and the ability to test well. All these
factors bring them into a first class with racing hearts and rising blood pressures.

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 The low-risk approach of participating in a fun, light-hearted activity can bring down learner
anxiety and decrease the perception of educational risk. Friendly competition is the cornerstone of
leisure in US culture, and most people are familiar with the simple rules of most activities.

Make sure that the first ILA you use is one you feel positive and confident using. Your attitude
models to the students how they should respond and react. If you are embarrassed or worried about an
activity, do not use it. Find one in your comfort zone and your positive attitude will be contagious.

2. ILAs can offer visual and hands-on practice with content learned in a lecture.
If you design an ILA that gives your students practice with applying knowledge and skill, it will
reinforce your content through a different brain pathway than just listening. For example, if you invite
your learners to break into teams to assemble emergency supplies for a code, they will have to recall
what is needed, think through the process of work flow, and problem-solve which supplies might be
missing. This can simulate the stress of real job experience, but with no risk if answered incorrectly. If
the team times their first endeavor, then evaluates the process for mistakes, when asked to repeat this
activity they can strive for a correct outcome in less time than the first trial. Any team that can get it
right the second time, and in less time than the first attempt, wins recognition. This is the best type of
competition because all who learn are winners (and hopefully that is everyone)!

This sort of success reinforces that if you participate actively in your learning, you will have
success. For the initially anxious learners, this makes it more likely they will participate at the next
opportunity.

3. Make sure your learners know the purpose of the ILA before it starts and after it
ends.
Some learners are social people and will welcome the opportunity to join a group of people and
participate in a positive activity. They will be willing to participate without this explanation. The rest of
the learners will not.

Some participants are analytical, thinking learners. They must know the whys before they will
talk to others and join a small group. They generally hate touchy feely classroom activities and avoid
group work like the plague. They prefer to learn alone and are not always in touch with the
interpersonal dynamics that make collaboration an integral skill in the job of nurse. If you quote
statistics, rationales, and other fact-based information for the planned ILA before you begin, it helps
these learners mentally adjust to the expectation and makes them more willing to try a group activity.

For example, if I was teaching and/or reviewing cardiac arrhythmias, I might want to
demonstrate the heart dance to the class. One body movement represents the atrial beat, while another
represents the ventricular beat. In normal sinus rhythm, both act in a coordinated fashion in a regular
rhythm. I could then assign each small team a different rhythm to demonstrate for the class based on
my demonstrated movements. Then I could offer a variety of different arrhythmias on EKG strips and
have each team find and identify the one they just demonstrated. I could then give each group 5
minutes to use their resources and identify the nursing care associated with this patient, as well as the

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expected drugs given for this condition. At each step in the process, the small team would lead the class
through their demonstration, their strip, and the associated nursing care and pharmacology. I would
then close the class with several NCLEX exam-style critical thinking questions to assess and evaluate
understanding of this content. I would then explain that the reason I asked for such important
participation was to teach them the content in a way that brings them success, even if it is a non-
traditional teaching method.

This example shows that the ILA is not superfluous to the lesson; it is the vehicle through which
the lesson is delivered. It is a conglomeration of active teaching methods that produces success. It is an
investment of time, not a waste of it. See a sample at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0fKrnkPwj4

4. It is a misconception that using ILAs takes more time then lecturing.

It can take less time to teach a concept using an ILA, rather than lecturing. The problem is that
some educators think they have to do both to get the information across to the learners. The right
activity can replace lecture, and more effectively teach concepts that are confusing or hard to grasp.

One example of this is cardiac circulation. When one hears a lecture on this topic, even with
PowerPoint slides projected, it is possible to become confused. If you recreate the anatomy of the heart,
including all the chambers, valves, vessels, and one lung on a full-sized bed sheet, you can invite your
learners to each walk the path of cardiac circulation. Label all the parts and have the learners pick up an
O shaped pretzel when they get to the lung to represent they are picking up oxygen here. No one will
be confused once they walk it once or twice. This appears to be a game or a random activity to the
analytical people, but to the visual and hands-on learners, it clears up all the misunderstandings of the
process. It would then be unnecessary to lecture on this content. You could reuse this strategy when
teaching OB by having the students walk the path of fetal circulation first, then how circulation changes
at birth when the lungs expand.

Thank you to Jobeth Pilcher of Baylor Medical Center in Dallas, TX for supplying this photo of her ILA:

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5. The best place to try your first ILA is with your most challenging content that gives
poor results as you currently teach it.
Is there one topic of content you teach that learners consistently struggle to understand? This
may be an indication that the method you are currently using is not effective. You would have nothing
to lose if you took this content and made it interactive. There is a chance that changing the delivery
method may make it clearer to all. The worst outcome would be that your learners dont understand the
content, but the other method did not assure that outcome either.

An ILA also creates the opportunity for learners to work with others in class who are not their
friends. I would encourage that your purposely mix your teams so that your students learn about the
diversity of people in your class and in the world. In health care today, our students must be able to
quickly and easily work in teams to deliver care. Interpersonal and communication skills are essentials
for faculty to model and to create opportunities for learners to practice.

If you are new to collaborative interactive learning or do not know how to design an ILA, you
might want to utilize an activity someone else has used that has proven successful. Seek the counsel of
more experienced faculty and look to some of the resources listed at the end of this white paper.

I hope your attitude toward using ILAs is a positive one. I can attest to the success I have seen
when students truly get involved and engaged. If you are experienced with these activities, share that
expertise with your colleagues in-house and online.

References
Deck, M. (2014) Flipping the Classroom, Tool Thyme for Trainer, Baton Rouge, LA.

Deck, M. (2013) Editor: Stories, Tips and Techniques. Column in Journal for Nurses in Professional
Development.

Deck. M. (2010-2012) Editor: Nursing Professional Development: Stories, Tips and Tools. Column in
Journal for Nurses in Staff Development.

Deck, M. (2003-2009) Editor: Instant Teaching Tools. Column in Journal for Nurses in Staff Development.

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