... an amazing resource!

"A farmer has a fox, a chicken, and a bag of grain. He must take all three across a river. His boat is large enough for one item. Left alone, the fox will eat the chicken and the chicken will eat the grain. Explain how the farmer can take all three across the river."

You are marooned on a deserted island. As a team, name FIVE things you would bring with you if you knew you’d be stranded there. You must agree on the items and be able to explain why you selected them.

Everyone’s using them...

engage all students, making all of them accountable, allow students to safely take risks with high-level problem solving,

create an atmosphere in the classroom where ideas are student-generated, leading to students constructing their own evidenced-based knowledge,

effectively and swiftly monitor students’ work and engagement level,

when students see their thoughts in writing, the idea becomes more concrete, and they work to develop an opinion about the idea, amazing opportunity for collaboration,

students can easily see what is being written and drawn, and know that it is easily modified,

when students share ideas in groups, they are practicing one of the key elements of STEM - communicating about scientific and mathematical ideas.

Entire board  Together students work to solve a problem or explain a solution for an investigation.  Each student can be assigned a “task” and use a specific colored marker to indicate their response and participation. Two halves  Teams of students share responses to a problem and discuss similarities and differences in their strategies. 4-square  4 students sit around the table. All students work on the same problem using a different colored marker. Students “turn” the board once and then “review” their neighbor’s work, adding missing information with their color. Gallery Walk  Prop boards around the room for students to visit and review.

Dueling Whiteboards Two or more groups present their solutions at the same time in front of the class. Can be used to draw out student misconceptions through comparative analysis of whiteboards. Students are asked to point out differences in whiteboards between the two groups. What is the same? What is different? Are both answers correct? Can they be different and still both be correct? Look for small differences which may uncover some deeper misconceptions and should be addressed during discussion.

The Mistake Game While students are whiteboarding, ask a few or all groups to include a deliberate mistake in their solutions and then have either a presentation, board meeting or art show in which students are asked to evaluate each solution and find and correct the mistake. Use when students are comfortable solving a type of problem. This activity requires a more in-depth understanding of problem solving in that students need to know how to solve the problem and then recognize and insert a “common mistake”. Students must understand what a “common mistake” might be, which often targets a pre-existing misconception.

“Board Meeting” All student groups stand in a circle and hold up boards simultaneously. Usually used after an investigation or for other “big ideas”. Students can all whiteboard the same concept, or different pieces of a complex idea. Students have the opportunity observe and question each other’s boards. Students or teacher leads discussion. Through questioning differences in outcomes, interesting or unique pieces of data, differing interpretations of data, etc. are pointed out, analyzed, evaluated, and synthesized.

“Speed Dating” Problems are taped to large whiteboards and a different problem is given each group. Groups are given a short amount of time to begin solving the problem in front of them. When the instructor chooses, students pass the whiteboard to another group (or move to the next board). Each group will need a little more time to read this problem and evaluate the work the previous group has started. Students must decide whether or not to continue with the existing work or to start a new attempt. Previous work CANNOT be removed. Boards (or students) continue to rotate around the room until all groups have had a chance to evaluate each problem and solution.

Gallery Walk/ Boardwalk Students complete their whiteboards in groups and then place them around the room so groups can move easily from one board to another. Students can use sticky notes or different colored markers (to distinguish the author from the commenter) to make comments or ask questions about each board as they move around. Board authors then consider and address the questions and comments, either within the group or in class discussion. **These “more” strategies were adapted from Indiana Chemistry Modelers.

The large whiteboards are 24”x 32” and are cut from a 4’x8’ sheet of white economy shower board. The cost of the board is about $14 at Home Depot and makes 6 large boards, enough for an entire class!

Use different colored markers for each student in a small group. That makes it easy for you to see if all students participate in the answer. Before use, coat new whiteboards with furniture polish. I use Pledge. Try Expo scented markers—they’re my favorite! Use electrical/painters’ tape to divide board: T-chart, sorting board, 4-square Use a digital camera to take quick pix of boards before erasing. Prop boards in the room so that everyone can view them. (Gallery Walk/Boardwalk) Great opportunity for students to evaluate/critique.

We wish you MUCH success with your large whiteboards!

We will help you with borrowing or owning your own large whiteboards, We will model a lesson/strategy using large whiteboards, We will co-teach a lesson using large whiteboards with you, We will share more ideas about how to use large whiteboards.