Week 7 Journal
Published 11 March 2009Innovation does not require technology. One of the teachers I observed created a game to broadly review the concepts of work and energy. Most students were absent because state testing was going on for the previous three school days, so the class was split (seemingly strategically with regard to expected behavior issues) into three teams of two. They had time to write down in their team as many things about work, energy, or work&energy as they could. Then they had several minutes to write these things on the board with different color dry erase markers. Every unique item earned a point. Every false item lost a point. Every irrelevant item was just erased. The teacher went through each item, attempting to engage the students in considering whether each item was valid. This game was educational and built community.
The other teacher I observed did an extended problem straight from the textbook with his AP physics class and discussed elements of it during class.
Lowering the bar of expected complexity and eletronification, let's us see this game as a helpful use of technology.
