5-2-1 A Quick Makerspace Activity

I use the makerspace as much as I can. Almost daily. But I think it works really well in quick bursts. As brain breaks or 5-2-1 at the end of class to reinforce a lesson. There are so many different materials in my makerspace, I do not always open up the whole space. For the 5-2-1, 5 minutes to design and make, 2 minutes to explain to the class, 1 minute to dismantle and clean up, I choose a few materials and roll them out on a cart or place them at the front of the space. This is definitely a strategy that needs modeling because getting the timing down takes several sessions. But once they complete the activity a few times, they are a beautiful thing to watch. They dismantle as another group is presenting, then as groups are switching they quickly put the materials back. It looks like a fine oiled machine.

Last Friday in the last 8 minutes of class I decided to have a 5-2-1 because the days activity was kind of dry, Mendel's Theory of Inheritance. A short video, a collaborative chat, a quick vocabulary highlight and after listening to the various table groups discussing the topic there seemed to be a little bit of abstract imagery, it just hadn't gelled into place yet. It was our first day of Genetics so the vocabulary had not really been taught yet. So the word I knew that had down pat, heredity and Genetics were the focus of the 5-2-1 but it was open-ended and they could create & explain anything about either. I wrote on the board- What does heredity and Genetics mean to you? Show me. The various artifacts were similar because pipe cleaners and a few other items were what I gave them to use.

Mendel, pea plants, Punnett squares, dominant vs. recessive were the basic ones for each class and that is perfect because the more they hear it the more it will be added to their schema. The more they are active, creating, tinkering the more they will make connections, visualize, and add to memory any concept you throw at them. A fun way to quickly review and students learned a lot in just 8 minutes.