I gave
students the prompt to create a 2 minute video on “Motion.” These were only three parameters: 1) it had to
be a video, 2) length of 2 minutes, and 3) subject of motion.
I expected
that an open ended assignment would appeal to teenagers’ creativity and need
for individualization. What I have
encountered, in some instances, is discomfort and unease. Some students are conditioned to operate with
a rubric which prescribes exactly what to include and how to format it. These students are completely out of their
comfort zone since their options are limitless; they have not accepted that the
decisions they make about their project can earn them full credit.
When I
polled the class their opinions ranged from “Love it!” to “Hate it!” The ones who do not prefer this assignment
platform said they didn’t like it because it was vague, there were too many
options, they were lacking ideas, and it didn’t tell them what to do. One student said, “I like for you to tell me
what to do so I can get it done without having to go through the planning
process.”
This
reinforces to me that my students need more open-ended prompts such as this to
get them engaged in the learning process.
The videos students are submitting range from boring to exciting. I think the videos reflect the students’
personal levels of creativity as well as engagement; the videos are as diverse
as the students. While this project is
appealing to a specific subset of my student population, and I’m glad they have
this creative outlet to explore physics, this is only one of many methods I
will use to involve my students in learning physics.
Click the link
below to see one of my students’ videos:
What do you think about Sabrina's experience? Can you relate?
Jennifer and Sabrina, I encounter the exact problems. I can't speak for Hoover as I'm certain others are providing experiences like this one, but at my school I think it's evidence that students definitely need exposure to more experiences like this. I can imagine how my students would respond to such a project! It definitely would be a struggle.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true and so important. I find this to be the case with my daughter and my son. Sometimes I think we structure so much for our kids that we stifle their creativity. I know I am guilty of this at home. My kids have a hard time entertaining themselves without an ipad. If we are not careful we are going to raise a group of children that have lost all creativity. Great piece, and I will do all that can to change this in my school and in my house.
ReplyDelete