Yesterday's lesson was about the periodic table of element, a lesson delivered to year 8 students in their chemistry class. How dry can this be? In the initial lesson on the subject, using lots of tools from her treasure chest, the teacher (my practicum mentor) managed to engage students in the subject and have raise their interest for the lessons to come.
The 2 hours lesson was carefully planned and broken down into 15mn-20mn small activities. She used a backward design and and inquiry based lesson. Starting with an assessment for learning in the form of a quick individual quiz, the following animated discussion demonstrated the initial engagement of the students. A coloring activity was then given to students to identify the different categories from the periodic table and color them in bright colors. Working in group of 5, the next task was to build a time-line using fluorescent paper, pictures and a short documentation about history of the table. The group separation technique (student were allocated a number from 1 to 4 which would become their group number) allowed students from different level to mix, share and complement their knowledge with the intention of developing social learning and community building.
This lesson illustrated beautifully a constructivist approach. During the initial assessment, students raised lots of key questions and subsequent activities were directed to answer some of these questions. Teaching was delivered through collective activities, discussions, hands-on practice, attractive audio-visual material and reading for a maximum learning retention.
It was a good example of a very successful lesson!
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