1. Center for Faculty Excellence
Supporting faculty success in teaching, research/scholarship, and service
5 Attention Grabbing Strategies for “Hooking” Your Students
Presenting an interesting or shocking fact related to the topic can grab
attention, i.e. “We know that Malaria kills half a million people each year,
and we’ve had a cure for it since the 1600s” (Lindsay, 2015). This can, in
turn, stimulate curiosity in a topic and prompt the brain to pay further
attention to understand the context surrounding the fact or discrepancy
caused by it.
BACKGROUND AND RATIONALE
All thinking begins with wonder. - Socrates
Research from cognitive psychology and neuroscience shows “substantial evidence” supporting the basic
notion that interest arousal and attention precedes and stimulates learning and memory (Craik & Lockhart, 1976;
Kyndt, Cascallar, & Douchy, 2012; Posner & Petersen, 1990; Riggs, McQuiggan, Farb, Anderson, & Ryan, 2011; Rosegard & Wilson;
2013). To optimize learning, it is, therefore, important to pique and capture the learner’s attention and
interest at the outset of introducing a new topic through the use of a novel, surprising, or ambiguous
external stimuli, also known as a “hook”. The following “hook” strategies can entice and focus your
student’s attention towards learning.
(1) Interesting
or Shocking Fact
(2) Storytelling
People have a natural disposition to using stories for interpreting and
explaining the world around them. Brain science shows that the brain is
wired for learning through stories by looking for a narrative, characters, and
a problem or conflict with a resolution. The story can be about a:
 Personal experience  Historical event
 Experience of someone youknow  Newsorcurrentevent
 Fictional storywithmade upcharacters andevents
 “Imagine if….”hypothetical situation (Catapano)
(3) Thought -
Provoking
Question
A lead-in, thought-provoking question can pique attention and set the
stage for class discussion later on, e.g. have you ever wondered why “x”
occurs; why your body does “y”; when is war justified; why a song gets stuck
in your head; or can you legislate someone’s beliefs? An effective thought-
provoking question will amplify a student’s natural sense of wonder or
challenge a student’s beliefs of the way things are, causing them to question
their assumptions and pre-existing knowledge about the world.

2. (4) Puzzle or
Problem to Solve
Presenting some type of puzzle or problem to solve at the beginning of a
class encourages students to keep listening for information throughout the
class to formulate a solution. According to Berlyne’s (1960) theory of human
curiosity, curiosity is a state of moderate arousal induced by an external
stimuli that presents conflict or uncertainty. The conflict or uncertainty that
a problem poses can induce motivation to solve it through the acquisition of
knowledge.
(5) Interesting
/Outlier Case
Because they often tell a story through a narrative structure and contain a
problem or conflict based in the real world, case studies can be a powerful
hook for students. Starting a new topic with a compelling scenario or
dilemma from an interesting or outlier case can captivate your student’s
attention, produce an emotional connection by identifying with people
involved, and create a motivating framework for examining and discussing
the topic. Most teaching cases start with a hook by providing the who,
what, where, when, and why of a problem or issue that can be used.
Establish Relevancy
Good hooks make the learning relevant to student’s lives so that they can connect to the topic on a personal
or emotional level. The brain will be more motivated to pay attention when it can see why the learning is
relevant to the individual or larger community and society, thus current events, pop culture examples, and
career-related examples can all establish relevancy.
Use of Media, Props, and Humor
Media and props can help focus attention by engaging multiple senses, which fits with how the brain learns
by taking in information through multiple channels. For example, show a clip from the TV show MythBusters
that relates to a science topic or a short clip related to some social, political, or economic issue or event
from comedian John Oliver’s popular TV show Last Week Tonight; both are typically readily available on
YouTube. Or, start with an image that relates to a topic being discussed, such as a funny cartoon that
satirizes the topic. Humor can put your students at ease and make them more receptive to the information
being provided. An example of using a prop would be to show students the amount of sugar contained within
a typical soft drink for a class on nutrition.
Using Headlines for Topics
Drawing upon the media’s use of attention-grabbing headlines and marketing strategies, some educators
have used headlines to introduce new topics to generate a desire to view, read, or hear about upcoming
content. For example, the following topics for a food science course can be converted to attention-grabbing
headlines to be used on Syllabi and mentioned at the end of a class to inform students of what is going to be
covered in the next class (Harris, Stevens, & Joyner, 2015):
“Physical properties of food-based glasses and crystals” to “How to Eat Glass Without Getting Hurt”
“Intentional vs unintentional insect consumption in the human diet” to “What’s Bugging You?”
Other Techniques to Consider When Applying “Hooks”