I am asking for a classroom set of thirty 18x24 whiteboards for both myself and my fellow colleagues to share with our biology students. We would like to provide each group of 3-4 students with their own whiteboard to collaborate, a few markers, and an eraser to collaborate ideas in biology. Having small groups in the classroom will allow students to be more spread out and out of their desks to allow for adequate social distancing.
Students are given a challenging conceptual problem or phenomena to work out on a whiteboard in a small group setting. Whiteboarding is a pedagogical approach in which students used whiteboards to work out and share ideas. Because the whiteboard is temporary, non-committal, and easy to change, students have the opportunity to test out tentative ideas in a low-stakes environment. After each group has worked out the problem, there is usually a process in which a few or all groups share their work with the whole class, either at the front of the class or in a large circle, with peers and their teacher asking questions to help clarify and refine their ideas.
The high school I teach at will be implementing new science standards that incorporate the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in the next two years. In NGSS, there is a strong emphasis for students to focus on understanding and application as opposed to memorization of facts devoid of context. As we prepare for that shift in teaching science, I hope to create opportunities for students to act as scientists where they use models, analyze data and interpret data, and use math to represent physical variables to understand their relationships. This can be accomplished through the simple tool of whiteboards.
About my class
I am asking for a classroom set of thirty 18x24 whiteboards for both myself and my fellow colleagues to share with our biology students. We would like to provide each group of 3-4 students with their own whiteboard to collaborate, a few markers, and an eraser to collaborate ideas in biology. Having small groups in the classroom will allow students to be more spread out and out of their desks to allow for adequate social distancing.
Students are given a challenging conceptual problem or phenomena to work out on a whiteboard in a small group setting. Whiteboarding is a pedagogical approach in which students used whiteboards to work out and share ideas. Because the whiteboard is temporary, non-committal, and easy to change, students have the opportunity to test out tentative ideas in a low-stakes environment. After each group has worked out the problem, there is usually a process in which a few or all groups share their work with the whole class, either at the front of the class or in a large circle, with peers and their teacher asking questions to help clarify and refine their ideas.
The high school I teach at will be implementing new science standards that incorporate the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) in the next two years. In NGSS, there is a strong emphasis for students to focus on understanding and application as opposed to memorization of facts devoid of context. As we prepare for that shift in teaching science, I hope to create opportunities for students to act as scientists where they use models, analyze data and interpret data, and use math to represent physical variables to understand their relationships. This can be accomplished through the simple tool of whiteboards.