Visiting the Science Classroom

In early February I had the opportunity to visit Mrs. Henry’s science class. During this class I got the opportunity to observe the wrap-up of a science project the students had been working on. Each student was to create an interactive representation of a specific geological formation, like tectonic plates. Students made fun yet simple activities for their classmates to complete so they could experience what the different geological processes look and act like on a small scale.

Prior to being allowed to disperse around the room, the students were given a brief overview of what they would be doing during class that day. They were also told what was expected of them during the activity to evidence their participation. With the students being allowed to go to any presentation except their own. Once student questions have answered the students were allowed to move to their stations to set up their projects.

Some of the students made websites for their information while others made interactive dioramas. One of which had tabs so that you could move the model tectonic plates and cause a mountain to rise up. Each of the projects was a simple yet creative way to share information that showcased each student’s skills. With some students being better able to create a real-world model while others were better at creating an online format.

While I did like this approach, where each student created what they wanted for their project I could see some drawbacks to this approach as well. The first is from a grading standpoint, having different types of projects would make them slightly more difficult to grade as you may need to create a variety of rubrics for the different project types the students may choose to do. However, this can be alleviated by having a separate part to the assignment that is completed first. By having this you can ensure that all information is present prior to the students creating their project.

The second slight issue that I noticed wat with the students who created an online format for their project. For some of these students, the links they provided for their projects didn’t work, or their sites simply didn’t work. This is an unfortunate part of using technology in the classroom. While their projects were not working at the time, they were still able to participate in the walk around to see what their classmates created. The main problem with this is if their projects weren’t showing up then they couldn’t be graded on them in the same way their classmates were. However, they would still be graded once their projects are able to be viewed.

I would like to try to implement similar activities in my future classes. In this way I can give each student a chance to show what they can do in different mediums. However, I am not sure what is the best way to go about doing this. Have you ever done a class project like this before? What are some of the best ways you have found to implement these activities? Should you put a limit on what types of projects they can create?