1. Creating effective assignments and activities
What do we care about?
That students learn from the assignment/activity
That we can determine what students have learned
Design of the assignment or activity is crucial to both

2. Creating effective assignments and activities
Students learn best when:
They have a context for new knowledge and new experiences
Their interest is captured
They use what they know to tackle problems
They have the opportunity to synthesize and reflect on what they have learned

3. Task: evaluating a sample activity
How well does it promote student learning?
Could it be better, and, if so, how?

4. Task: evaluating a sample activity
Goal is to have students
Interpret the sediment record
Determine what the environment was like
Draw conclusions about the nature and timing of rainfall changes in the Sahara
Student background: they know that
Lakes accumulate sediment eroded from the surrounding areas
Sediments can preserve features that reflect the nature of the environment (e.g., fossils)

5. Task: evaluating a sample activity
Evaluate for student learning
Read the activity, paying attention to:
How the activity starts
How the activity ends
The flavor of the questions and what students are asked to do
Don’t get bogged down in the details
Discuss evaluation with group and arrive at scores for student learning only

6. Improvements and alternatives
Develop an effective preparatory assignment for homework
Set the stage more effectively with engaging questions – a “hook”
Change the questions to be less “leading”
Develop a follow-up assignment that provides an opportunity for students to reflect and synthesize

7. Improvements and alternatives
Many options for other assignment structures
Two effective structures that emphasize student analysis
Jigsaw technique
Gallery Walk

8. Jigsaw technique Prepare several different assignments for the class
Divide class into teams
Each team prepares one of the assignments
Divide class into new groups with one member from each team
Individuals teach group what they know
Group task puts picture together

9. Value of the technique
Students must know something well enough to teach it
Gives students practice in using the language
Students can learn one aspect/example well but see a range of aspects/examples without doing all the work
Well-structured group activity

10. Critical elements of jigsaw
Students must be prepared and not be wrong-headed
You must be happy that each student knows his/her assignment well and the others much less well
The group task is crucial - without it, it’s not a jigsaw
Some type of individual follow-up is valuable

11. The Gallery Walk
Prepare several posters each with a different question, data set, or an object to observe and interpret
Hang the posters around the room
Divide the class into as many teams as there are posters
At first station, team makes observation/interpretation, writes it down
At second station, team reads existing observations/interpretations, makes additions and corrections, and adds a new one.
Back at first station, team summarizes and reports to class; class wrap-up.

12. Value of the technique Gets students up and moving
Students can work directly with a range of examples without having to do all of the analyses on all examples
Incorporates critical analysis, synthesis, and presentation
Generates a written record of student thinking
Well-structured group activity

13. Critical elements of Gallery Walk
Topics/objects must be broad/complicated enough for multiple teams to comment
You must be happy that each student knows his/her final topic well and the others much less well
The synthesis and reporting at the end is crucial
Some type of individual follow-up is valuable