Navigating Student Resistance

Regardless of how much effort we put into creating the perfect lecture and our efforts to design relevant and intentional lessons, there will always be the student(s) who are fully resistant to those efforts. While there is a sense of students’ personal responsibility for their own learning, these students can often create a negative vibe in a classroom, especially those classes that are designed to be active and engaging. By exploring methods to understand your students, this resistance can be reduced and, in some cases, completely eliminated.

• Note that most resistance to class participation will be passive in nature (e.g., not joining a group, sitting off to oneself). Determine how you will address non- participation ahead of time.
• Explore the makeup of disciplinary majors your students are pursuing. Each major has its own methods to engage students, thus creating expectations among students for what to expect for their own learning. Be sure to communicate methods and expectations clearly to students so they are prepared for your class.
• Students often fail to identify relevance in what they’re being asked to do, causing them resistant to put forth the effort to complete the assignments and/or participate fully in class activities. Communicate relevance of activities and assignments, so students are aware of value.
• Most students are used to a stand-and-deliver method of instruction and have rarely been asked to participate in the learning process, other than completing homework and taking tests. Anything other than taking notes and viewing slide presentations goes beyond what they’ve previously been expected to do. As mentioned in other tips, setting clear expectations from the first day of class and clearly communicating intention and relevance will help lower the threshold of resistance.
• Students can sense when an instructor is ill-prepared or uncomfortable with the material they are teaching. Being fully prepared, anticipating questions or challenges from students, and having fully reviewed activities, practice problems, etc. will decrease student resistance and increase their respect for you as an instructor.
• Consider students’ mental and physical states. For example, if your class is late in the day, students have likely had several classes prior to yours that day. They may be physically and cognitively tired. To help with this, incorporate an early activity into the lesson and try to engage students in movement and dialogue throughout the class period.

Additional Readings

• Tharayil, S., Borrego, M., Prince, M., Nguyen, K. A., Shekhar, P., Finelli, C. J., & Waters, C. (2018). Strategies to mitigate student resistance to active learning. International Journal of STEM Education, 5(7), 1-16.
• Wilson, K. and Korn, J. H. (2007). Attention during lectures: Beyond ten minutes. Teaching of Psychology, 34 (2), 85–89.