I got 99 problems but to enrich (my students) ain't one

So today in Physics I wasn't sure of how well my students were sold on the content. We had discussed over the last several weeks Newton's Laws, making free-body diagrams, doing ramp problems, centripetal acceleration, and gravity. Crunch time is a week from today when we have our next test but I want to know that they have the material down before we get things started. I wanted to make sure they had it down.

Thank you xkcd [Image: http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/centrifugal_force.png]

I had a couple things working against me. I wanted to work on problems, but problem solving by itself is seen as boring. An inquiry-based experiment would be cool, but would take time and couldn't get all the concepts and practice problem-solving I wanted. Furthermore, I had a fair bit of differentiation in my class and when I did group work, my better students tended to band together, leaving some of my weaker students in a group.

My solution? I divided the students up into random groups of 2. Over the weekend, I made 5 problems which were a good cumulative review of the last 3-4 weeks of class. Each problem was on a different sheet of paper and had the answer to the last problem on it. I made this into a scavenger hunt! The students got the first problem at the beginning of class. The answer to each problem gave them a clue as to which locker to find the next sheet over or which cabinet in my room to look in (I numbered all my cabinets and drawers 1 through 28). The last answer sheet (sheet #6) had only the answer to the last problem and also a small piece of extra credit on it (I call them high fives - students get +5 points on a homework or quiz). It took about an hour and a half to adjust the numbers to get things to work out, but was well worth the time. Of the 6 groups, 3 finished right at the end of class and I told the other 2 that they could continue working and get it done any time today. One group finished with about 15 minutes left and I told them to circulate the room and help others with their work. My students did a good job of identifying errors and walking the students through rather than telling them the answers.

One student told me her brain was stimulated and ready to go (my class was the first this morning). Other students raced through the assignment and were so excited to find each next page. Overall it was a huge success. My students learned, moved around, and had fun. The moral of the story here is to be creative with how you teach. Your kids will adore it if you show them you love them by doing something fun and innovative. Perhaps you're more open to failure but your students will appreciate you taking a risk and, furthermore, your chances of a successful lesson and of earning your kids' respect will be much, much higher.

Is' all about respek [Image: http://www.comecorrect.net/img/AliG.jpg]