IF YOU WANT TO:
Beginning and ending your lectures or discussions with a summary statement.
A history professor finds it helpful to place his watch in full view on the desk or lectern. "I watch the clock carefully to be sure that there is time to summarize the day's discussion. Then, at the beginning of the next class session, I sum up the previous lecture once more before moving on to a new topic."
"Students crave both continuity and a sense of closure," he explains. "They do not like unfinished presentations. At the same time, because none of us likes repetition, I try hard to use different words and examples in each summary. The best way I have found to avoid redundancy is to note on an index card the exact words I have used at the end of a lecture, so that I am reminded to vary them in the brief recapitulation I give at the beginning of the next class meeting."
A professor of business administration also uses this technique. "Because each concept in this course builds upon what has gone before, it is important for students to see how each new topic relates to what they have already learned as well as to what they will be learning in the coming weeks. I find the most effective way of doing this is to begin with a brief summary of what came before, followed by a brief preview of what will come next."
Limitations on Use of Suggestion
Copyright 1983 by the Regents of the University of California