Friday, April 21, 2017

An Interactive Edcamp: Mini-models and Catastrophic Events

An Edcamp can be spontaneous, as my classes have done several times this year. Where I just put placards on tables and students sat down at the table that interested them. Then they just talked and shared information. Other times, I let students create demonstrations and share them. Students moved around from class to class and learned about various topics. We did this as a grade level for ecosystems. It was a two day event culminating from a 3 day decoration of our classrooms as different ecosystems: mine was three types of forests. Today I decided to have students have an interactive edcamp where they created mini-models of various catastrophic events and then they got into groups to share and demonstrate their models. This was the end of this unit and the beginning of our next unit which is succession.

Students discussed the impact these events have on weathering, erosion and deposition as well as how the weather or geological events cause damage to the environment. The models were constructed in 15 minutes to make sure that they didn't over think it. They just needed to quickly make a model and be able to explain it. I wanted it to feel more spontaneous and flexible. Students enjoyed tinkering and creating using the makerspace and having an audience to present to. It is a fun day. I took some pictures of the Edcamp and that I think demonstrate the ingenuity and creativity of these awesome students. This is a great way to let students be self-driven, independent learners but also focusing an Edcamp so they have a game plan.



















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