In my second podcast episode on Science Teaching Tool Box, I present three quick and engaging strategies that can be used in the classroom as a formative assessment, or a review activity. The three strategies I present are ways to get students interacting, processing content, and are great ways to get a quick check in on what students have learned. I love using embedding lots of formative assessments that give me a quick read on any misconceptions or misinformation students have on a topic. Please note that some of these strategies may not be completely my own! Over the years I have taken ideas from lots of sources and adapted them to fit my style and my classroom. I will try to give credit if I know where the strategy originally came from!
Strategy # 1: Find Someone Who:
This is a Kagan Cooperative Learning Strategy that I have modified. The premise of this activity is that students are given statements that start with "Find someone who...". I have often seen it used as a team builder or ice breaker to get to know students at the start of the year. For example; "Find someone who has a dog." Or, "Find someone who has 2 siblings." For the version I will talk about, I have taken that concept but use content. Students are given a page with 15 find someone who statements; presented in 5 columns. The idea is that they go around finding other students who know the answers to a question. They get the answer and record the student's initials in the box with the statement. Here is an example of the types of statements and format on a "Find someone who..." that I used in Earth Science class to review the Precambrian as part of my geologic history unit. This may seem like a simple activity and it is, however there are a few super important components that make it work:
1. Before I hand out the sheets, I divide them up and highlight one column making sure I have a roughly even amounts of the 5 columns highlighted. When the student receives their paper they are given the instructions to answer the the three statements in their highlighted column. Once they have recorded an answer they put their hand up and the teacher walks around checking their answers. The idea is that the statements are pretty straightforward and can quickly be found in their notes. This is not an activity with a lot of higher order thinking involved. It is meant to be a quick processing/review/knowledge check activity. Once all students have 3 correct answers you can then move onto the walking around the room and finding other answers part. Having students get three correct answers to start is critical because if students spread the wrong answer, you have now spread misinformation around the whole class!
2. It is important to be very intentional with your directions to students for getting answers! Students are to get up find a partner and each share one answer. They record the answer and the initials of the student who gave it to them. They should only do one question per partner. I stress that what I do not want to see is a circle of students passing papers around. I explain that by just copying answers they have turned the activity into busy work. The first time we do the activity I model with a volunteer what it should look like, students talk and exchanging ideas, and what it should not look like. This is just a good practice in general to explain and give your rationale. If you can show that what you are doing is not busy work you will often get more buy in from students. Also modeling is another important practice to implement on a regular basis.
This activity is a great review. But it can also be used as a formative assessment. During the first part where students have to fill in the answers to three of the statements, you can quickly see if the whole class is confused, if there are certain concepts that multiple students are struggling with, or if the majority of the class has a good grasp of the main concepts.
If you are looking for a quick and simple strategy to increase engagement, "Find someone who..." is a great strategy to try!
Strategy # 2: Write it, Pass it: Silent Discussion
In this activity you ask a question that students respond to on a piece of paper. Students sit in a circle in groups of 4 to 5. After responding to the answer the student passes the paper and the next person responds to their answer, adds to it if needed or corrects something as needed. Students pass the paper again and you can either have students continue to respond to each other or you could move on to a new question. The number of times I have students respond to each other depends on the type of question and if the question lends itself to discussion. This does not have to be just writing, it could include a drawing aspect. Here are a few examples of how I've used this strategy:
1. To review the cycles of matter I had students pick a cycle to draw. I then gave them 3-5 minutes to draw and label as much as they could about the cycle. When they passed the paper the next student's task was to add to the drawing, label unlabeled items or cross out anything that might not be accurate to the cycle.
2. I have also used this as a way to wrap up class after a verbal discussion. Students had a class discussion/debate based on the topic of if fracking is contributing to an increase in Earthquakes in the Midwest. Sometimes, students have ideas but don't want to say them out loud or they think of something after the discussion that they wish they had mentioned. This is a quick way to get more students engaged and you can also see if the students understood the evidence presented.
The silent discussion strategy is a great way to promote engagement and reach students who don't like to speak out in class. It can be used as review or formative assessment. It is a strategy that can help target higher Depth of Knowledge. For more information regarding Depth of Knowledge and strategies to increase rigor check out the Edutopia article by Gerald Aungst; "Using Webb's Depth of Knowledge to Increase Rigor"
Strategy # 3: Big Post It: Say it, Write, It Pass It
Say It, Write It, Pass It is another Kagan Cooperative Learning strategy. I have a love/possible obsessive for Big Post It notes that stick on the wall so I have students do this strategy on the wall. I divide the students up into equal groups. Each group stands in a line in front of a big post it on the wall. The first student in line is given a marker. I typically have the post its pre-labeled but you could easily have the students label them. The main premise is that the students are given a topic and then are told to write what they know about the topic. The first person in line says one thing out loud that they know about the topic, then if the rest of the team agrees (I have students give a thumbs up or down), then the student writes it on the big post and passes the marker to the next student in line. Any student can help the student with the marker come up with something to put on the paper, but the student with the marker has to be the one to write it. I like to do this for time. An example of a one topic prompt might be "What do you know about DNA?".
It can be a quick one topic activity, but with a slight variation you can get multiple concepts. If you give each group a different big concept, you can have them do the activity for 2 minutes and then the group rotates to the next post it. They look over the new topic and what was already written and then do the activity about the new topic but for only 1 minute and the goal is to add to what is there or cross off any incorrect information. Each time they rotate to a new post it you can cut the time down because more ideas have been given and there should be less to add. An example could be to have each post it labeled with a different sphere of earth; Biosphere, Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Geosphere.
This activity is a good review, a brain dump, or as a formative assessment to see where students are in their learning. I think we often don't give students enough process time and this activity allows that process time. At the end students are often surprised at how much they knew! It could also be used as a brainstorming activity. If you were to use it for brainstorming, you could cut out the part where students have to agree on it being written on the post it.
I really hope you find these strategies useful and that you can add them to your toolbox. If you already knew these strategies I hope this post was a good refresher and that it inspired you to do something you haven't done in a while!
