This month, we focus on the 4 C's: Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking. Today's entry comes from John Danssaert, science teacher at Canyon Crest Academy:
Using "Student-Based" white boards in the classroom
In physics-land (and many other science classrooms as well), we use small white boards to allow for collaboration of small groups of students. This recent activity was largely motivated to get them to collaborate and get their energy going as we had been doing quite a bit of detailed "bookwork" in AP Physics C.
I asked them to develop a new eating utensil which incorporated something we had been studying recently in physics (either optics or electricity). Students worked in small groups of 3-5. They were tasked to draw a sketch of their design and list its key attributes. After about 25 minutes each group presented their design to the class. It was quite remarkable both the variety (laser guided mini chainsaw turkey cutter) and creativity that came out of this simple activity.
The use of whiteboards definitely gets kids to collaborate (sometimes rather "off topic" as well). It's a great, simple way to get students to work together, be creative, and share ideas.
The white boards we use are 24" x 32"; they can be cut from a 4' x 8' sheet of showerboard purchased from Home Depot. HD will even cut these up for you.
