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Wide-angle photo of a large, modern lecture hall with tiered seating where students are seated with laptops while an instructor teaches at the front beneath multiple projected slides. A translucent banner across the center reads “Classroom Strategies.”

Evidence-Based Teaching Practices

Below are 10 evidence-based teaching strategies you can integrate into your courses. These practices support clarity, engagement, and deeper learning.

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State Clear Learning Goals

Setting clear learning goals helps you and your students understand what knowledge, skills, and values they should gain. Goals provide a roadmap for instruction, assessment, and student focus.

Learn more: 

  1. What is the Value of Course-Specific Learning Goals?
  2. A Process for Developing Introductory Science Laboratory Learning Goals To Enhance Student Learning and Instructional Alignment

Show & Tell

Students want to succeed but may not always know what quality work looks like. Modeling expectations—such as showing exemplar assignments, demonstrating processes, or walking through steps—clarifies what strong performance entails.

Learn more:

  1. Doing Your Own Assignments First
  2. Modeling the Behavior We Expect in Class

Use of Questions to Check for Understanding

Intentional questioning reveals student comprehension and misconceptions before you move forward. Varying types and levels of questions can strengthen engagement and guide instructional adjustments.

Learn more:

  1. The Verbal Structure of Teacher Questions: Its Impact on Class Discussion
  2. Responding to Student Questions When You Don’t Know the Answer
  3. Question Strategies
  4. Questioning Skills to Engage Students

Summarize New Learning in a Graphical Way

Graphic organizers—concept maps, diagrams, grids, timelines—help students make connections and retain information. They can be used as learning activities, formative checks, or assessments

Learn more: 

  1. How Foldable Graphic Organizers Can Help Learners Retain Information
  2. Reading Assignment Strategies that Encourage Deep Learning

Provide Multiple Practice Opportunities

Learning improves when students engage with material repeatedly and across time. Spaced and purposeful practice supports mastery and long-term retention. Practice should align with course goals and the stage of learning.

Learn more:

  1. Spaced Repetition: The Most Effective Way to Learn
  2. Can the Spacing Effect Improve the Effectiveness of a Math Intervention Course for Engineering Students?

Provide Students with Regular Feedback

Feedback guides improvement—but only when students understand how to use it. Clear, timely, and structured feedback (rubrics, checklists, peer review, annotated examples) helps students learn from their work rather than simply receive a grade.

Learn more:

  1. Written Feedback for Students: too much, too detailed or too incomprehensible to be effective?
  2. Creating formative feedback spaces in large lectures

Be Flexible about the time it takes to Learn

Mastery learning recognizes that students learn at different paces while meeting the same expectations. Flexible timelines, iterative assignments, and opportunities for revision support deeper understanding and retention.

Learn more:

  1. Mastery Learning Benefits Low-Aptitude Students

  2. Advocating the Implementation of Mastery Learning in Higher Education to Increase Student Learning and Retention

Get Students Working Together (in productive ways)

Collaborative learning allows students to use each other’s strengths to deepen understanding. When structured well, group work enhances problem-solving, engagement, and communication skills.

Learn more:

  1. Collaborative Learning Overview
  2. Student Experience of Group Work and Group Assessment in Higher Education

Teach Strategies, not just Content

Students often need guidance on how to study effectively in their discipline. Sharing learning strategies, demonstrating effective approaches, and inviting students to reflect on their habits can improve performance and confidence.

Learn more:

  1. Helping When They Are Listening: A Midterm Study Skills Intervention for Introductory Psychology

  2. Transforming the Lowest-Performing Students: An Intervention That Worked

Nurture Metacognition

Metacognition—thinking about one’s own thinking—helps students plan, monitor, and assess their learning. Tools such as exam wrappers, reflections, or pre- and post-assessments prompt students to evaluate their strategies and adjust accordingly.

Learn more:

  1. Metacognition and Successful Learning Strategies in Higher Education
  2. Thinking about One’s Thinking

 

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