One strategy to elicit critical thinking is to omit important facts when presenting scenarios to students for classroom discussion. Often instructors take considerable care in class to articulate each important fact within a particular scenario that students will...
My writings involve movement descriptions taken from my classroom. I am trying to bring the reader into a dance classroom to catch a glimpse of movement education. "Today we will start facing away from the mirror. Although the mirror serves as an important tool in...
That’s right! Ever thought about using a quiz for a lesson? Or how about as a study guide? It’s easy, and it’s all in how you set it up. Instead of an assessment tool, re-purpose as an active learning activity where students can: Watch a video clip. Go to websites...
Thinking Inside The Box By Brian Sweeney I spent two years in Germany with the U.S. Army, providing bomb disposal support to highly classified missions. I would get a call telling me to get to an airfield within usually 6 hours, without being told where I was going...
Instead of telling the students what the concept of order of magnitude is, I let them discover its meaning through a writing prompt. Following is the prompt statement (derived from a Just-In-Time physics question), the students' results, & the lead up to the...
Averaging student grades is an inaccurate way of measuring what they've achieved in class. At the end of the semester, do you add up all the points a student has earned throughout the term and then divide that number by the total amount of points possible to determine...
When I look back on my college education I see class time spent listening to lectures and watching instructors work math problems on the board. Seldom, if ever, were we students given class time to think something through or work something out for ourselves. If...
My writings involve movement descriptions taken from my classroom. I am trying to bring the reader into a dance classroom to catch a glimpse of movement education. "We will start with an inhaling breath. On the exhale, bring both knees to the chest. Feel the flexion...
Many of our classrooms have been active for years, maybe decades. In a typical CIT course, for example, students interact with hardware and/or software almost every time they meet. But is doing enough to guarantee learning? Are students forming synapses - or are they...