WEBVTT

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[Music] Welcome to "In Front

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of the Class: Students' White

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Board Explanations."

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I'm Nate Ash.

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I am a physics teacher

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at Perrysburg High School for grades 11

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and 12 in Perrysburg, Ohio.

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What we are trying to do

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with this lab is take a look

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at how electricity travels through space

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from one region to another region--

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or one area to another area--

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to get a clear picture

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of how this works in our head.

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What the students are doing is they are

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looking at different shapes

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and the electricity

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between those shapes,

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and they are using a measuring device,

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a probe, to measure the electricity

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between those regions of space.

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And so, they are actually looking

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at what that electricity looks like,

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the field lines anyway,

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what those field lines look

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like between those shapes.

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Some of the higher-order questions

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that I am asking along

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with this lab are: How do you know--

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when you are doing this experiment,

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how do you know

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where to draw the electric field lines?

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How do you know

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where the electricity is going

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and how do you know what shape

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that this is taking?

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I would also ask some questions about:

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How do you know where the electricity,

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or what we call "potential,"

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how do you know that's increasing?

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Where are those regions,

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and how do you know those regions are

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located at that spot?

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And so, they are finding places

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where the voltage is the same

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or the electricity is the same.

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And once they have that,

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then they can start drawing

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in field lines,

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which is what they will be presenting

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to the whole class.

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And so I circulate

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around while they are drawing

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these pictures.

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And to myself, I start to note questions

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that I can ask

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about particular whiteboards.

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And then I also make a note

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of who I want to bring up

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and when I want to bring them

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up in front of the classroom

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to make presentations.

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While they are preparing whiteboards,

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I go around, and I start to prep them

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for what questions I might ask them

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during the presentations.

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And so some of the weaker students

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already have an idea of what I am going

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to ask them, so if they feel successful,

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they start to participate,

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and they start to pay attention.

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They start to understand better.

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And so that's one of the ways

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that you get these students ready

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to give these presentations and not only

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to give the presentation,

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but also receive the presentations while

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other people are presenting,

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what's important,

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how do I question them,

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those kinds of things.

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So what I am having the students do

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when they prepare their whiteboards is--

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first of all--

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using a picture, represent the lab data

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that they collected,

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and so they are actually going

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to draw a picture very similar

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to the apparatus that they used.

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And in their pictures,

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they are to draw the electric field

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lines and the little dots of voltages,

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so where all the one volts are,

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all the two volts are.

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And so, they are actually drawing

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those pictures.

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And so when they get up in front

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of the classrooms,

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that's when I will have them start

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to explain their picture.

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And they are basically thinking

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on the fly because they really have

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to get at the point

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where they understand the concept

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or else they won't be able

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to answer the questions.

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So the audience needs

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to be actively engaged as well

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because I will let things go,

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and they need to be paying attention.

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They need to question the presenters

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as well.

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And so they become responsible

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for their own education,

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for their own understanding

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of what is going on with the concept.

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The one thing that you cannot do is you

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cannot allow one or two students

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to never answer any questions.

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everybody who is up there needs

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to be responsible for what they put

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on the board.

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And a lot of times in group work,

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one or two people dominate and one

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or two people sit back; you can't allow

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that to happen.

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So we would ask them

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in some steering sort of questions;

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What would happen

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if you put a charge there?

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Which way would the force be going?

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Does that agree

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with what your whiteboard suggests

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about the field lines?

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Some of the other questions

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that I would ask would be:

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How is this similar

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to the gravitational field?

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How is this similar

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to what we have already learned?

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Are there any differences,

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and what are those differences?

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So students are forced to think

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about not only what we are dealing

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with at the moment,

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but relate it to what we've already

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learned and what we've already

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talked about.

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Whiteboarding allows me

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to ask one more question further

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than maybe a quiz or test.

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I can ask them why

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or how do you know this?

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How do you understand this to be true?

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So I can really probe

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for their understanding maybe

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in a better way, a more complete way

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than a lot of the other forms

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of assessment.

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And so, when the students start asking

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questions to other students,

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this is something

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that they really enjoy.

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They really enjoy putting each other

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on the spot and making each other

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accountable for what they know

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and how they explain it.

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And so, they like to ask those probing

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questions and both people,

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the presenters,

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they love to show off what they know

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and the people who are asking questions,

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they take great pride in coming

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up with the best question of the class.

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so how do you get students ready

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to answer these kinds of questions

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or use the whiteboards

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and present this information to you?

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Very early in the year,

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I mean the first day, they are broken

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up into groups

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and I have them write things

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on the whiteboards,

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and they have to present the very first

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day things like what their interests

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are, what food they like,

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what their favorite movie is,

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just very simple things,

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questions that they can answer.

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And we-- just everyday

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for about the first three weeks,

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everybody is up in front of the room,

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and everybody has to answer

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at least one question.

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And they start to become comfortable

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with and familiar with the process.

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And they start to like it.

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They start to appreciate it.

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Then they start understanding the game

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that you are playing.

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And the whole purpose behind

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whiteboarding is for them to bring

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out their own understanding and for them

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to explain what's going on.

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Instead of me giving lecture notes

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or me standing up there

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with a PowerPoint slide,

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they are the ones

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that are driving the class.

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And they also know

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that if they say something incorrectly,

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there are times when I would let that go

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through to see if people catch it.

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so they know that they have to be awake

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in the audience as well.

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They know that they are actively

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participating in the education.

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The one thing that whiteboarding does--

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especially the presentations--

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that's different than anything else is

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that they have

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to defend what they understand

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and what they know in front

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of an audience.

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They have to be able

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to think on the fly.

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They become critical thinkers

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because none of the questions

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that I ask them can they study for.

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so they are up there pretty much

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unguarded, and they are able

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to fend off a lot of these questions

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that I am asking them.

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And it's pretty rewarding

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for the students,

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and it's pretty rewarding for me.

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But I think it makes them a better

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overall student, and I am confident

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that it makes them better

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at the curriculum that I am teaching.

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I mean test scores that I have

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over the last four or five years

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since I have been doing this are much

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higher than what I had

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when I would just go up to the board

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and solve problems and do problems

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and go through samples.

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so, not only are they getting the

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curriculum, they are becoming

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critical thinkers.

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They are getting used to presenting

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in front of people.

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And these are lifelong skills

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that will prove very beneficial to them.

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To learn more about higher-order

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questions, please explore the additional

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resources on the Doing What

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Works website.

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[Music]