To get them to do the reading, I begin each class with a short reading quiz. The lecture periods are then broken down into a series of digestible snippets of 10 to 15 minutes. These short conceptual questions generally require qualitative rather than quantitative answers. The students get one minute to think and choose an answer. After they record their answers, I ask the students to turn to their neighbors and to convince them of their logic.
Chaos erupts as studnets engage in lively and usually uninhibited discussions of the question.
After one or two minutes, I call time and ask students to record a revised anwer and a revised confidence level. A show of hands then quickly reveals the percentage of correct answers. After the discussion, the number of correct answers and the confidence level typically rise dramatically. When the results indicate mistakes they make. I have been lecturing like this now for more than four years.