Student Centered Learning: A New Perspective and Implementation

While introducing a unit on waves, and the types of electromagnetic waves, we found that there were a lot of questions students had about waves and the types of waves that exist.

Instead of testing students on this material, we decided to offer a presentation as an alternative project.  Students worked in pairs or groups of three, and were to come up with a unique topic to research.  Once students had their research topic, they were responsible for coming up with 4 specific research questions that they would answer in their presentations.

Students signed up for their project using the following google form:

We required that students have a presentation medium of sorts to present their material, but it was completely open to them in terms of how they wanted to present their material.  We tried to encourage students to use Google Presentation in lieu of Powerpoint, because most students have mastered Powerpoint and our goal was for them to learn something new.  The presentation medium that students chose for their presentations included:  Google Presentation, Powerpoint, Windows Movie Maker, Prezi, and Xtranormal.

Students have never been asked to do presentations in Physical Science yet this year, so we had a “Chalk Talk” on what the qualities of good presentations include.  If you are unfamiliar with chalk talk, the entire class was silent and each person was to pass the chalk and go up to the board and add something to it in regards to what a good presentation looks like.  We found this to be a very valuable discussion not only for students, but also us as educators. It gave students an idea of what to expect, and what to comment on when they gave student feedback on presentations.

Here is what 1st Hour came up with:  

Quality Presentations are: organized, bullet points, time well spent, know what you're talking about, don't speak fast, pictures, examples, thought provoking, clear speaking, time, eye contact, loud peaking, quiet when people are talking, posture, exciting, don't talk into your paper, cite your sources, NEAT, seem interested

Presentation Reflections:

1.)  Audience Engagement was KEY!  Prior to starting presentations we talked about the importance of audience engagement.  Students attempted to do this in multiple manners within their presentations.  Some students stopped their presentations in the middle and asked quiz questions in which they offered candy and brownies.  Other groups had some great Q&A sessions in which students could not wait for the presentation was over to ask questions.  Others embedded YouTube videos into their presentations, or included the sounds that a dolphin, humpback whale, and bats create using sonar.  We found that some groups were better at this than others.

2).  Peer Feedback is POWERFUL!  Some of the best feedback was the feedback that students gave each other.  I tried to give students as much feedback as I could while they were presenting, but I also had 6 additional students put feedback on a slip of paper that I compiled on the final feedback sheet.  I was REALLY IMPRESSED with the quality of the feedback to: students from: students.  They gave very constructive criticism, and I hope this will help them in the future.

3.)  There is  no reason to recreate the wheel, RECYCLE and ADAPT rubrics to fit your needs.  I am not an English teacher, but I am expected to be one within my content area.  I adapted a speech rubric from the English department to meet my needs to grade these presentations.  It was detailed enough that it talked about presentation mannerisms, to go along with the content being presented.

4.)  This was not only a lesson about content, it incorporated digital literacy, digital citizenship, 21st Century Skills, and College Readiness skills.  A benchmark test on this content would not have been nearly as valuable.  Students learned to work together and collaborate to put their presentations together.

5.)  Students advocated for themselves and contacted me VIA EMAIL when they needed assistance!  This was very powerful.  Students were not afraid to contact me when groups were not working well together, when partnerships were absent, or if they had questions or concerns about their presentation.  During a school board meeting I attended one night, I responded to FIVE students that contacted me regarding their projects.  I WAS VERY PROUD to see them take this step!