How much time do your students spend thinking about your lesson once they've left the classroom? 

Reflecting on learning is a powerful tool in aiding comprehension and memory. Yet students might go days, weeks, or even months before reflecting on a lesson. Research shows that within one hour 50% of new information is forgotten.

Using exit tickets to prompt student reflection (via tools like Ziplet) is an easy and timely way to get students to reprocess information. 

In this article, we share 18 questions you can ask your students to help prompt reflection in or after class.

‍

Bring out the positives

Focusing on the positive experiences of learning gives students greater confidence in their abilities. Starting with questions that focus on what students enjoyed or were surprised by in a lesson can help promote these positive experiences.

1. What part of the lesson surprised you?
2. Which part of today’s lesson was most interesting?
3. My favourite part of today’s lesson was…
4. What is the most important thing you learned today and why?

Refresh the key points

Asking a student to write or tell you what they’ve learned is a form of self-testing, a proven path to building knowledge. That’s according to a peer-reviewed study of more than 700 studies on 10 commonly used learning techniques.

5. I used to think…but now I know…
6. Two facts I learned about the topic…
7. The top 3 ideas I remember from today’s lesson…
8. What is something you weren't sure about at the start of the lesson but understand now?

In their own words

By putting information into their own words, students are encouraged not only to recall key concepts but reprocess information.

9. Imagine a classmate is absent from class today. How would you explain the lesson to him/her in 25 words or less?
10. If you were creating a quiz about today’s lesson, what are 2 questions you’d include?
11. How would you explain to what you learned today to someone in the grade below you?
12. Imagine you’re the teacher. Create a test question (w/answer) related to today’s activity.

Connect concepts

Connecting concepts is important to ensure the content isn’t “abstract, decontextualized and independent of the situation”. If a student has to tackle obscure and meaningless learning materials, they’ll struggle to assimilate the knowledge. Guide them to associate your lesson with what they already know.

13. How does something you learned in today’s lesson connect with something you already knew?
14. How can you apply something you learned today to another class or subject?
15. How can you apply what you learned today to your own life?

Find learning opportunities

Encouraging students to reflect on what they don't yet understand can help give students a hint at what they should be focusing on, and can help you understand what areas the wider student group may need further support in.

16. What areas did you find most difficult to understand / complete?
17. What questions do you still have about (insert topic)?
18. What is one (1) question that you still have about the lesson?

Getting started

Ziplet is a free app for students and teachers that makes it easy to collect student responses to questions. Join here and take a look at the question library and explore our suggested exit ticket questions.