Eliciting and Interpreting Student Thinking (EIST)

Eliciting student thinking is similar to ‘formative assessment’ in the way that it allows the teacher to step back and give the student space to express their voice and views. This can be done in almost any situation in the classroom and during any instruction.

In the video below you will see various examples of eliciting student thinking. This ranges from asking students a question and then following it up with, “why do you say that?” or simply asking them questions about The Cold War and WWII and having them explain the history of both instead of me explaining it to them.

When students are given the space to express themselves in the classroom it gives other students an example of a classmate of theirs sharing their ideas or experiences and this makes it more likely that other classmates will also then share.

Eliciting allows the teacher to gage where to take the lesson next and possibly what to go over again. It is quicker than a formative assessment however because it is simply asking questions and not an entirely prepared assessment.

  • Eliciting student thinking is having the student go further than a basic “yes, no, or single word” answer. The teacher can ask a question and when a student responds, the teacher can ask, “why do you say that?” and better learn the students’ thought processes.

  • Eliciting can and should be done during all lectures within the classroom. This allows the teacher to ask questions and keep student participation and interest up within the lesson instead of talking the entire time themselves. It is somewhat of a mixture of FA and GD.

  • When a teacher elicits what a student or students are thinking they are able to see where the student is in relation to their understanding of the lesson. This helps guide the teacher throughout the next stages of the unit as it is similar to formative assessment (FA) in that it allows the teacher to assess what the student thinks about a topic by taking a step back and asking the student, “why?” they believe what they believe in regards to the topic.