Education Commons^™

Understanding Proxemics Through Restrooms: A "Hands-Off" Approach To Personal Space And Communication, Joshua Westwick

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Numerous methods of teaching nonverbal communication have been well documented in the literature. However, some instructors may struggle to create transformative learning experiences for their students. This teaching activity provides a creative and original way for students to discuss nonverbal communication, specifically proxemics, in a fun, engaging, and memorable learning experience. This exercise asks the learners to reflect upon a previous experience with using a public restroom, critically reflect upon that experience individually, engage in classroom discourse about the experience, and take action by being aware of the space and territoriality choices they make. Students have responded positively to the …

Doubling Down On Student Discussion: A Simple Technique For Increased Involvement, J. Jacob Jenkins

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Objectives

1. Students will actively participate in classroom discussion.

2. Students will learn to not “over share,” allowing opportunities for others to speak.

3. Students will be accountable for the material discussed in class.

The Art Of Making Conversation: Learning The Skills Small Talk, Kelly L. Mckay-Semmler, Shane Semmler

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Although “small talk” is often dismissed as trifling and superficial communication, the ability to converse comfortably with potential relational partners in initial interpersonal encounters is foundational to building closer relationships. In this assignment, students enhance their interpersonal communication competence through the application of six small talk guidelines in two peer-to-peer conversations and in a capstone conversation with the instructor one-on-one. This assignment is appropriate for a variety of communication courses, including the basic course, interpersonal communication, and courses in professional communication, as it develops students’ skills in active listening, self-disclosure, nonverbal immediacy, and anxiety/uncertainty management in interpersonal communication with strangers.

Understanding Coalition Dynamics: A Role Play Class Activity, Anthony M. Ocaña

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

The purpose of this activity is to illustrate the role and challenges of coalitions in group conflict and decision making. In this activity, students take on the roles of organizational members tasked to arrive at consensus, but having different goals, interests, and information that could impact the decision. In discussing this activity experience, instructors can illustrate the six principles of coalitions presented in Wilmot and Hocker’s Interpersonal Conflict text. This activity is applicable to any course that addresses conflict and group interaction, including interpersonal and group communication, organizational and professional communication, family communication, and workplace skills seminars.

Illustrating The Perceptual Process Through A Music Video, Stacey A. Peterson

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This exercise uses a popular music video to illustrate the significant role that perception plays in the communication process. Perception is a continual and active process that impacts how people see their world, themselves, others in it, and the ultimate creation of meaning. By using a music video, students are immediately engaged because it is a medium that they are very familiar with. Upon completion of this activity, students will demonstrate a better understanding of how and why people perceive the same thing(s) in a variety of ways. They will also have a tangible example of the centrality and complexity …

The Semiotics Of Teaching With Reality Tv: A Theory-Based Approach To Teaching And Modeling Communication Theory, Rita L. Rahoi-Gilchrest

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This article begins by establishing a rationale for not only teaching with reality television in the communication classroom, but also taking a theory-based approach to doing so. A theoretical framework for the pedagogical use of reality TV—semiotic theory, based on the work of Peirce— is presented. The discussion then moves to a specific outline of a sample classroom activity that demonstrates a semiotic approach, using the BRAVO TV website as a means of illustrating and teaching Cultural Studies Theory. The author concludes by qualifying the case for using reality TV as one—but not the only—means of teaching communication, and offers …

Identifying Rhetorical Visions And Group Roles Through Role-Play, Brent Kice

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This classroom activity allows students to experience small group communication components firsthand. Students will be divided into groups of five, with each member receiving a character background that the member will role-play. The character backgrounds are to be kept hidden from other members, and each member has an ulterior goal that the member will try to achieve, unbeknownst to the other members. The character backgrounds are designed to force conflict among the group members. At the conclusion of the activity, students will discuss how the different character roles affected the group, and what unifying message might have worked in uniting …

Illustrating Tensions Using Stretchy String: Teaching Relational Dialectics In The Interpersonal Communication Class, Valerie Lynn Schrader, Azhanni Muhammad

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

The objective of this activity is to increase students’ knowledge of Relational Dialectics by illustrating dialectic tensions in a tangible way. Relational Dialectics, which focuses on different dimensions in relationships, is an important concept for students to understand because it highlights the messiness of interpersonal relationships. This activity illustrates dialectical tensions through the use of colored stretchy craft string, providing students with a physical manifestation of an abstract concept.

Making Verbal Pauses Taboo®: Gaming To Improve Communication, Abby M. Brooks, Andrew C. Tollison

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This activity contributes to the improvement of communication skills through application and enjoyment. The manuscript describes how a class can be divided into teams to test student’s communicative abilities by playing the Milton Bradley game Taboo®. With “buzzing,” timing and friendly competition speakers face-off at attempts to have their teammates guess words or phrases like “bowling alley” without saying “pins,” “shoes,” “spare,” “balls” or “strike.” This lively skill-building activity has been found to be an effective way to challenge the speaker to process what they are saying, reduce the use of verbal pauses, and use nonverbal pauses more effectively. Up …

Giving A Classmate An Award: Ceremonial Speaking Within The Classroom Environment, Heidi Hamilton

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

As citizens we encounter ceremonial speaking occasions throughout our lives, from wedding toasts to retirement dinners to eulogies. While many textbooks offer guidelines for the various types of speaking occasions, these occasions are difficult to create within the classroom environment. Often instructors skip assigning a full ceremonial speech because of this. This activity is designed to provide students with an opportunity to practice some of the basic elements of ceremonial speaking, such as writing a thesis statement, providing supporting materials, and using magnification. Students are paired together, interview each other, and then present original award speeches to each other, thus …

Discovering Culture And Communication On The World Wide Web, Jin Xu

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

Discussions of intercultural communication mostly center round the interaction of culture and communication concerning differences in values, beliefs, norms and communication styles. However, cultural differences also stem from different cognitive styles, which impact intercultural communication. This article describes an activity that introduces students to cultural cognition theory. Combining research on the Internet, small group interaction, and class discussion, this exercise encourages students to apply theory to practice, to explore cultural differences on the Internet, and to develop their critical thinking skills. It also develops their awareness and skills needed to be mindful of the nuances of cultural differences. The exercise …

Gaining Knowledge: Creating Activities For Students By Students, Annie M. Clement

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

This article describes an activity suitable for high school and college/university communication courses. Combining outside research with in-class discussions and class interaction give students the opportunity to become more knowledgeable about interviewing in the ‘real world.’ Students research interviewing topics, find articles to support their topic, then create an activity and present this to the class. This allows more in-depth analysis of common topics discussed in an interviewing class allowing students to take control for their learning, deepening the learning process for themselves and others while decreasing common interviewing pitfalls.

Not Your Average Speech Of Self-Introduction: The "Talking Resume" Alternative, Lauren Mackenzie

Communication and Theater Association of Minnesota Journal

The “talking résumé” activity is designed as a creative and useful alternative to the standard speech of self-introduction exercise in the university public speaking classroom. Using Visual Communicator software, this assignment guides students through the process of preparing, orally delivering, and critiquing résumés for themselves and their classmates. This brief article is geared toward public speaking instructors looking for innovative ways to begin the semester and provides suggestions for how to assign, conduct, and evaluate the “talking résumé” activity.

Pace: A Group Randomised Controlled Trial To Increase Children's Break-Time Playground Physical Activity, Anne-Maree Parrish, Anthony D. Okely, Marijka Batterham, Dylan P. Cliff, Christopher A. Magee

Dr Marijka Batterham

Abstract presented at Be Active 2014, 15-18 October 2014, Canberra, Australia.

Grids And Gestures: A Comics Making Exercise, Nick Sousanis

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

Grids and Gestures is an exercise intended to offer participants insight into a comics maker’s decision-making process for composing the entire page through the hands-on activity of making an abstract comic. It requires no prior drawing experience and serves to help reexamine what it means to draw. In addition to a description of how to proceed with the exercise, this piece also includes conceptual grounding in the form of a brief theoretical discussion of the ways comics convey meaning as well as personal notes on the development of the exercise and how it has been used.

Introducing Pbl Into Civil And Structural Engineering, Niall Holmes, Una Beagon

Teaching Fellowships

The benefits of problem based learning for students are a deeper understanding of lecture material, and the development of problem solving and collaboration skills which will greatly enhance their educational experience. This approach has been successful in other programmes as it departs from the traditional ‘what I am told I need to know’ to ‘what I need to know to solve the problem’ promoting self-directed learning. Lecturers in turn transition from the giver of information to the facilitator of learning through support, guidance and monitoring. This project introduced an active learning element into two concrete technology modules by replacing traditional …

Longitudinal Associations Between Sports Participation, Body Composition And Physical Activity From Childhood To Adolescence, Laura Basterfield, Jessica K. Reilly, Mark S. Pearce, Kathryn N. Parkinson, Ashley J. Adamson, John J. Reilly, Stewart A. Vella

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objectives: Several important research questions have been addressed: (1) What are the cross-sectional associations between sports club participation, objectively measured physical activity, and adiposity? (2) Do measures of physical activity and adiposity predict subsequent sports club participation? (3) Does sports club participation predict subsequent measures of physical activity and adiposity? and (4) Do changes in sports club participation predict changes in objective measures of physical activity and adiposity? Design: Longitudinal and cross-sectional. Methods: Data from the Gateshead Millennium Study birth cohort (. n=. 609 at age 7 years) were analysed for associations between adiposity, sports club participation and accelerometer-measured physical …

Modelling The Contribution Of Walking Between Home And School To Daily Physical Activity In Primary Age Children, Rebecca M. Stanley, Carol Maher, James Dollman

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Background

The purpose of this study was to identify the independent association of frequency of walking trips between home and school with daily physical activity in a sample of school-aged children.

Methods

Participants were 109 children (mean age = 12.05 years [±0.71]) attending nine primary schools in Adelaide, South Australia. Physical activity was derived from accelerometers with total counts as the outcome variable. Transport patterns were self-reported for each of the previous five school days. Walking trips were summed for each day and across the school week. The relationship between the number of active transport journeys and individual school day …

Preschool Children's Foreign Language Vocabulary Learning By Embodying Words Through Physical Activity And Gesturing, Konstantina Toumpaniari, Sofie M. M Loyens, Myrto F. Mavilidi, Fred Paas

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Research has demonstrated that physical activity involving gross motor activities can lead to better cognitive functioning and higher academic achievement scores. In addition, research within the theoretical framework of embodied cognition has shown that embodying knowledge through the use of more subtle motor activities, such as task-relevant gestures, has a positive effect on learning. In this study, we investigated whether combining both physical activities and gestures could improve learning even more in a 4-week intervention program on foreign language vocabulary learning in preschool children. The main hypothesis that learning by embodying words through task-relevant enactment gestures and physical activities would …

The Influence Of Neighbourhood Green Space On Children's Physical Activity And Screen Time: Findings From The Longitudinal Study Of Australian Children, Taren Sanders, Xiaoqi Feng, Paul P. Fahey, Chris Lonsdale, Thomas Astell-Burt

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Objective: It is often hypothesised that neighbourhood green space may help prevent well-known declines in physical activity and increases in sedentary behaviour that occur across childhood. As most studies in this regard are cross-sectional, the purpose of our study was to use longitudinal data to examine whether green space promotes active lifestyles as children grow older. Methods: Data came from participants (n=4983; age=4-5) of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children, a nationally representative study on health and child development. Physical activity and screen time were measured biennially (2004-2012) using questionnaires and time use diaries. Quantity of neighbourhood green space was …

Healthy Recovery: An Opportunity To Address Smoking, Diet And Physical Activity As Part Of Alcohol And Other Substance Abuse Treatment, Peter James Kelly

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

Abstract of a workshop at the ADDICTION 2015: the Australian & New Zealand Addiction Conference, Gold Coast, Australia, 20-22 May.

The Case Studies: Chat In Use - Case Study 13.1 Designing An Effective Undergraduate Vocal Pedagogy Environment: A Case Of Cultural-Historical Activity Approach In A Singing Course, Irina Verenikina, Lotte Latukefu

Faculty of Social Sciences - Papers (Archive)

This chapter draws on six case studies of pedagogy with technology in Higher Education. The studies are chosen because they illustrate how the use of technology impacts on pedagogy in these contexts. While the cases are drawn from different levels of higher education (undergraduate to postgraduate) they are woven together by a shared framework: namely, the use of CHAT to explore pedagogical innovation with technology. One of the significant strengths of CHAT, all studies will argue, lies in its ability to situate goal-directed action within the larger context of a motive-directed activity. That is, its explanatory power lies in situating …