{"id":141,"date":"2017-09-15T15:08:17","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T19:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/edt431-531\/?p=141"},"modified":"2017-09-15T20:22:16","modified_gmt":"2017-09-16T00:22:16","slug":"teaching-in-the-margins-space-suits-and-bagels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/exemplary-science-teaching\/2017\/09\/teaching-in-the-margins-space-suits-and-bagels\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching in the Margins: Space Suits and Bagels"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week, I ordered a space suit.<\/p>\n

Yes, a real one, straight from the NASA training camp of the late 80\u2019s-early 90\u2019s.\u00a0 Don\u2019t believe me?\u00a0 Check out this pic:<\/p>\n

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Now, why on earth (no pun intended) am I talking about a space suit?<\/p>\n

Honestly, I bought it for a class project.\u00a0 Our goal is to dress up like a famous scientist (I chose Anna Lee Fisher) and, essentially, become that person for an hour and a half during one of our class periods.\u00a0 The project is called Meet the Scientist (I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll hear more about it in future blog posts), and it\u2019s supposed to give us the opportunity to use this same form of presentation in our future science classrooms.\u00a0 This activity is a perfect example of teaching in the margins.<\/p>\n

What is teaching in the margins?\u00a0 I\u2019m glad you asked.\u00a0 Teaching in the margins is, simply put, a style of teaching that allows for expansion beyond straight curriculum into real-world, applicable situations for students.\u00a0 This form of teaching is absolutely essential in the classroom\u2014it allows students to be curious about the world around them and teaches the same subject in multiple manners.\u00a0 In order to illustrate this, check out the photos below. (Please excuse my annoying house cat’s paw in all of the following photos.)<\/p>\n

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This first picture is an example of chemistry notes.\u00a0 Many classrooms are set up in the same way as these notes, using only lecture and strictly instruction-based laboratory activities to teach the subject of solutions.<\/p>\n

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This second picture is a slightly more margin-based example of chemistry notes.\u00a0 From first sight these notes are already more appealing\u2014more colorful, intriguing, and creative.\u00a0 There are plenty of classrooms that are set up in this manner, balancing the margins with a decent amount of lectures\/curriculum-focused teaching.\u00a0 Spending half of class lecturing and the other half of class doing hands-on labs and group activities would be an example of this kind of teaching.<\/p>\n

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This third picture is the exact opposite of the first\u2014mostly margins, with very little notes.\u00a0 Colors and ideas bounce around the page, everything mapping together in a unique way.\u00a0 It is also clear that the student did an activity in order to illustrate the concepts surrounding solutions.\u00a0 It includes the same amount of information as the first set of notes, but it\u2019s displayed differently.\u00a0 A classroom like this would spend maybe one or two days lecturing on a subject, then three or four days simply allowing the students to explore it through group work, projects, field trips, experiments, activities, and much, much more.<\/p>\n

Now, if you were to show these three pictures to a kid in school, which set of notes do you think they\u2019d like most?<\/p>\n

Some students (if I\u2019m honest, students like me) will be just fine with the first set of chemistry notes.\u00a0 Straight forward, evenly placed, everything makes sense because it just does.\u00a0 But most students don\u2019t think in a textbook-style, curriculum-memorizing way, and I think it\u2019s safe to bet that most kids would pick the last set of notes.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because they\u2019re bold, creative, and give the students an opportunity to not only learn the information but to express themselves.<\/p>\n

Shouldn\u2019t our classrooms do the same?<\/p>\n

If this idea isn\u2019t clicking just yet, here\u2019s another example that may make my point more clear: imagine teaching students directions.\u00a0 Since I\u2019m a college student here at Miami University, I\u2019m just going to use the example of teaching students the directions to our favorite uptown local food stop, Bagel and Deli.\u00a0 Here are three different sets of directions:<\/p>\n

1: Take Chestnut St. to Main St.\u00a0 Turn right.\u00a0 Turn left onto High St.\u00a0 Bagel and Deli will be on your right.<\/p>\n

This set of directions is an example of curriculum.\u00a0 <\/strong>The bare minimum; the straight facts students need to know.\u00a0 Or, comparing it back to the first example, this set of directions is like the straight lecture-based notes.\u00a0 But often times, giving students facts just like this leaves room for many questions that go unanswered.\u00a0 How far do we go on Main Street?\u00a0 Where is Chestnut Street?\u00a0 What does Bagel and Deli even look like?<\/p>\n

2: What if I as a teacher included more details<\/strong>?\u00a0 For example, giving students some pictures along with the set of directions.\u00a0 You\u2019re going to go about X miles on Main Street, past the four way stop, up to High Street.\u00a0 You\u2019ll turn left right next to the Phi Delta Gates, and here\u2019s a picture of what Bagel and Deli looks like.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s located next to Skipper\u2019s.\u00a0 These directions are better, and parallel with the second set of notes\u2014still plenty of instructions, but a few different ways of remembering the instructions.\u00a0 But it could still be better\u2026.<\/p>\n

3: What if I as a teacher just walked the students to Bagel and Deli myself?\u00a0 My instructions to them would be, \u201cBring along a notebook and a camera, and keep track of anything that might help you remember these directions.\u201d\u00a0 Along the way, I could give them the \u201ccurriculum\u201d instructions\u2014\u201cRight now, we\u2019re turning onto Main Street.\u201d\u00a0 But I\u2019m giving students the opportunity to truly learn the route whatever way that they want to, which is exactly what the third set of notes is doing. \u00a0Plus, walking them there means they get to enjoy the bagels themselves.\u00a0 This is teaching in the margins<\/strong>\u2014giving students the chance to experience their world and learn at the same time.<\/p>\n

So now that we know more about why margin-based teaching is important, the question becomes this: how do I teach in the margins?\u00a0 Here are a few ideas I have:<\/p>\n

–Schedule guest speakers.\u00a0<\/strong> Or (if you have a spare NASA space suit laying around, or maybe another cool costume) dress up as a famous scientist yourself to give a presentation.\u00a0 This allows students to see how what they\u2019re learning in the classroom is applied in the real world.\u00a0 You can even do this virtually–check the link below!<\/p>\n

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Virtual EMT guest speaker , helping out with career presentations!!! @PLTWorg<\/a> @TUSDSTEM<\/a> @TustinHS<\/a> #NGSS<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Rvay7MqpYP<\/a><\/p>\n

— Thomas F Day III (@MrDayScience) September 12, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n