We have all heard the old saying, “Drinking from a fire hose.” We can save our students this fate by inserting purposeful pauses into our lectures. Learners need time to process the information they have received.
If you lecture for longer than 10 minutes, consider chunking your content and inserting a pause every 10 minutes. In John Medina’s book called Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home and School, he describes how he inserted a pause during which he provided an emotionally charged stimulus every 10 minutes. This may involve Storytelling or Narrative.
LAMP Fellow and Life Sciences Professor, Dr. Michele Larson offers this writing that will assist you in Incorporating Pauses and Wait Time into your Lectures.
Medina, J. (2014) Brain rules: 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home and school. Seattle, Washington: Pear Press.
