In my high school physics class, we had an occasional event Mr. Rea called a "practicum". Here's how it worked: the class is given a problem, and can work as a team to solve it. The one I remember best was predicting how far a ball shot out of a spring-loaded cannon would travel, and putting a piece of carbon paper down to track where X marked the spot. The class gives their answer, and half the credit for the problem is based on whether or not they get the right answer. The other half of the credit for the problem is given when the teacher picks one student from the class (quasi-randomly, since I remember that if someone was goofing off they often got picked), and asks them to explain how to solve the problem.
The method forces the class to teach each other, and for the strongest students to lift up the weakest ones to a shared level of understanding. I think the social pressure of having the weight of everyone else's outcome on your shoulders also made it an effective technique.
I have long been considering how to increase student involvement in my class, to shake up the routine, and to get the wallflowers and malcontents engaged with what's going on. The recent success of my extra credit endeavor has given me an idea: a practicum with a prize of no assigned homework. Here's how it would work:
Mr. Lancaster and I pick out a problem or three that are representative of the evening's homework, and assign to the class as a whole. After, say, five or ten minutes, if the class can answer the question(s) correctly, they get to proceed to the "bonus round". Maybe this first question or questions will be weighted like a small quiz? In the bonus round, one student is selected to explain how to solve the question or questions, and if they can do so correctly, the class wins no homework for that night.
Optional additions would be to let the student in the hot seat have a "lifeline", to be able to ask someone else in the class what the next step is, or to make the homework assignment for the evening extra credit for anyone who still wished to complete it.
I'll have to run it by George, but I kind of like the way this idea sounds...
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9 years ago
1 comment:
Mike,
I like the idea especially the lifeline provision for the first few times. It would help choosing someone who has a reasonable chance of getting it correct the first couple of times to set the pattern. Another variation would be to have two teams-girls vs. boys. We had fun with that in summer school a few years ago. The key is to keep the activity cooperative and positive so that students will want to join in.
I am interested in reading how it turns out.
Carol Cramer
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