Hooking Strategies Handout
- 1. Center for Faculty Excellence Supporting faculty success in teaching, research/scholarship, and service 5 Attention Grabbing Strategies for Hooking Your Students Presenting an interesting or shocking fact related to the topic can grab attention, i.e. We know that Malaria kills half a million people each year, and weve had a cure for it since the 1600s (Lindsay, 2015). This can, in turn, stimulate curiosity in a topic and prompt the brain to pay further attention to understand the context surrounding the fact or discrepancy caused by it. BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE All thinking begins with wonder. - Socrates Research from cognitive psychology and neuroscience shows substantial evidence supporting the basic notion that interest arousal and attention precedes and stimulates learning and memory (Craik & Lockhart, 1976; Kyndt, Cascallar, & Douchy, 2012; Posner & Petersen, 1990; Riggs, McQuiggan, Farb, Anderson, & Ryan, 2011; Rosegard & Wilson; 2013). To optimize learning, it is, therefore, important to pique and capture the learners attention and interest at the outset of introducing a new topic through the use of a novel, surprising, or ambiguous external stimuli, also known as a hook. The following hook strategies can entice and focus your students attention towards learning. (1) Interesting or Shocking Fact (2) Storytelling People have a natural disposition to using stories for interpreting and explaining the world around them. Brain science shows that the brain is wired for learning through stories by looking for a narrative, characters, and a problem or conflict with a resolution. The story can be about a: Personal experience Historical event Experience of someone youknow Newsorcurrentevent Fictional storywithmade upcharacters andevents Imagine if.hypothetical situation (Catapano) (3) Thought - Provoking Question A lead-in, thought-provoking question can pique attention and set the stage for class discussion later on, e.g. have you ever wondered why x occurs; why your body does y; when is war justified; why a song gets stuck in your head; or can you legislate someones beliefs? An effective thought- provoking question will amplify a students natural sense of wonder or challenge a students beliefs of the way things are, causing them to question their assumptions and pre-existing knowledge about the world.
- 2. (4) Puzzle or Problem to Solve Presenting some type of puzzle or problem to solve at the beginning of a class encourages students to keep listening for information throughout the class to formulate a solution. According to Berlynes (1960) theory of human curiosity, curiosity is a state of moderate arousal induced by an external stimuli that presents conflict or uncertainty. The conflict or uncertainty that a problem poses can induce motivation to solve it through the acquisition of knowledge. (5) Interesting /Outlier Case Because they often tell a story through a narrative structure and contain a problem or conflict based in the real world, case studies can be a powerful hook for students. Starting a new topic with a compelling scenario or dilemma from an interesting or outlier case can captivate your students attention, produce an emotional connection by identifying with people involved, and create a motivating framework for examining and discussing the topic. Most teaching cases start with a hook by providing the who, what, where, when, and why of a problem or issue that can be used. Establish Relevancy Good hooks make the learning relevant to students lives so that they can connect to the topic on a personal or emotional level. The brain will be more motivated to pay attention when it can see why the learning is relevant to the individual or larger community and society, thus current events, pop culture examples, and career-related examples can all establish relevancy. Use of Media, Props, and Humor Media and props can help focus attention by engaging multiple senses, which fits with how the brain learns by taking in information through multiple channels. For example, show a clip from the TV show MythBusters that relates to a science topic or a short clip related to some social, political, or economic issue or event from comedian John Olivers popular TV show Last Week Tonight; both are typically readily available on YouTube. Or, start with an image that relates to a topic being discussed, such as a funny cartoon that satirizes the topic. Humor can put your students at ease and make them more receptive to the information being provided. An example of using a prop would be to show students the amount of sugar contained within a typical soft drink for a class on nutrition. Using Headlines for Topics Drawing upon the medias use of attention-grabbing headlines and marketing strategies, some educators have used headlines to introduce new topics to generate a desire to view, read, or hear about upcoming content. For example, the following topics for a food science course can be converted to attention-grabbing headlines to be used on Syllabi and mentioned at the end of a class to inform students of what is going to be covered in the next class (Harris, Stevens, & Joyner, 2015): Physical properties of food-based glasses and crystals to How to Eat Glass Without Getting Hurt Intentional vs unintentional insect consumption in the human diet to Whats Bugging You? Other Techniques to Consider When Applying Hooks