Teacher musings

Facilitating thinking strategy: Think, pair, share

My 10-year-olds are busy exploring electricity at the moment. We covered all the basics, reinforced vocabulary with the help of the QUIZZIZ app, and, during yet another online learning stint, built virtual circuits using this very useful website.

I had a bit of a delay in receiving the necessary resources for allowing the students to explore circuits in the physical classroom, so I decided to take a bit of time to introduce an interesting use of electricity: To enhance cognitive performance in humans.

I found a news article about this use of electric currents and prepared a ‘Think Pair Share’ worksheet to encourage the active engagement of all the students.

Find a copy for printing this sheet here

I introduced the concept of TDC’s by showing them this picture. And we discussed some of the words and concepts that they would encounter in the article, such as TDC’s, neuroscientist, cognitive, and cranium.

Image link

I gave them the article and we read through it once. I explained what was meant in a few instances, but was careful not to share any of my ideas and thoughts. They then had to write a summary of the article in the first column. I gave them 3 minutes to do this. I like to set a short time limit for these activities because it keeps their minds active and engaged. They could share their summary and I noted the key points on the board. We then read through it again and they received 2 minutes to write what they thought about the use of such enhancers.

The interesting part came when they had to listen to and write about what their partners thought about the topic. They found it difficult at first to listen with the intent to repeat someone else’s thoughts, but once they got the knack, they quite enjoyed this.

The activity concluded with them getting a chance to then discuss together and merge their ideas into one. They wrote this in the second column and each pair had an opportunity to share their collective opinion with the class.

I gave them the article and we read through it once. I explained what was meant in a few instances, but was careful not to share any of my ideas and thoughts. They then had to write a summary of the article in the first column. I gave them 3 minutes to do this. I like to set a short time limit for these activities because it keeps their minds active and engaged. They could share their summary and I noted the key points on the board. We then read through it again and they received 2 minutes to write what they thought about the use of such enhancers.

The interesting part came when they had to listen to and write about what their partners thought about the topic. They found it difficult at first to listen with the intent to repeat someone else’s thoughts, but once they got the knack, they quite enjoyed this.

The activity concluded with them getting a chance to then discuss together and merge their ideas into one. They wrote this in the second column and each pair had an opportunity to share their collective opinion with the class.

An example of one student’s work

They were still discussing the pros and cons of cognitive enhancement with electric current as they left the classroom.

John Vervaeke on meaning and the flow state

This comes from John Vervaeke’s Awakening from the meaning crisis series share on YouTube. There is so much to think about in here for the mom, wife, teacher and thinker.

Designing a bird and insect friendly garden: An Inquiry based learning project

We are taking Inquiry Based Learning very seriously at the school where I teach. Is is in fact our mid year exam for our Gr 4-9s.

This means a whole lot of planning and putting our heads together, because we need to take the project apart to find all the subjects in it.

We are trying to break the mold while following the conventional rules. This is no easy task.

This year’s project was to design a bird and insect friendly garden for our school grounds. The garden had to be in the shape of a regular hexagon, with each side being 10 m long.

This is how we spread the project among the subjects:

Mathematics:

1. They had to explore different ways of dividing a hexagon, using a triangular grid.

2. They had to recreate the life size hexagon and the sections on the soccer field using nails and wool. This they then used to calculate the circumference of the hexagon as well as the area of the various sections within their hexagon.

3. After they have researched a variety of indigenous plants (more about this under Natural Sciences) , they had to calculate how many of their chosen plants would fit into the section they have allocated for it.

Natural Sciences

1. They were given two South African plant websites; one with a list of indigenous plants and another where they had to find the information about the plants from the first site.

2. Students had to summarise the i formation they have in tables.

3. They then had to describe some of the biodiversity that they were hoping to attract.

History

1. They were tasked with researching how industrialization has impacted soil quality and biodiversity

Geography

1. They had to create plan views of all their gardens.

First additional languages (Zulu/Aftikaans)

1. They had to find the common names in the additional language and write a short paragraph on how these plants were used traditionally by these language speakers.

English

1. They had to write short daily reflections.

2. They had to create a PowerPoint and present their garden designs to the school’s landscaping team.

They completed their project in six days and presented it on the seventh day to the whole school and the head of the landscaping team.

The students were working in groups of five which consisted of either Gr 4s and 5s or Gr 6s and 7s. The group work with students they did not know was quite a challenge for some, but overall they have drastically increased their awareness of their environment and created some very interesting garden designs, which the two best groups will see come to life in two months time.