Miss...? Miss...? Miss...? How to stop answering the same questions over and over again

I teach one particular group of first year BTEC law students who constantly want reassurance that they're doing it right. They're asking question after question, usually on stuff that I have already covered.

This is something that I felt I had to sort out to make them more resilient and independent. As human beings one of our greatest skills is our ability to work things out for ourselves and this is something that needs to be practiced. In order to move them away from super dependence I have introduced question tokens. For a week long activity they are allocated three question tokens which entitle them to ask three practical questions about the workings of the activity. I don't limit anyone on the questions that they want to ask about the subject of the lesson, in fact I'm considering giving out tokens to collect for really great questions.

The impact can be instantaneously. Ensure that the new token system is the first thing you explain that lesson and watch them lean forward to really listen, jot down notes on their booklets and read and reread the written instructions given. When working in groups you'll see someone put their hand up or call me but before I can get there someone else gets them what they need to do.