Stealing ideas from television!

            Television and movies spend millions of dollars on marketing development to target kids. They even invest millions on 30 seconds of advertising time for some big TV events or to get their product used in movies that kids see. So teachers, with nowhere near the same budget, should steal their ideas and research on connecting with kids. In geometry teachers’ work on students recognizing symbols and what they mean in a proof and find that students often do not remember them. Then you quiz them on what company uses a “Swoosh” or “Three Stripes” or “CK1” and they all know! In English or History we work on quotes of events or literature and often come up short. This example is for adults- Poll other teachers and see if they can finish the quote “two all beef patties…..”. I bet many of them could complete the McDonald’s ad and that ad is 5-10 years old.  Many teachers I know use “Jeopardy” style games for review in a fun and relaxed setting (I personally use Edugame software-I’ll write about it in another column.)

OK, enough examples “where’s the beef” of this column!

            Teachers need to see that kids learn by repetition and directed fun. I have never seen an advertisement talk slow so everyone could keep up. Advertising talks fast and repeats the key phrase again and again. So teachers maybe we need to teach faster and build in more reviews? What if you teach 2-3 chapters a week and review every 3 weeks so the students hear the key terms again and again. Television and advertising keep the logo in front of the public all the time repeating the message. Do educators use this level of repetition to drive home the point? Television varies the picture every 5-10 seconds to keep the attention of the audience. What does this tell us about how a fixed teacher at a fixed overhead is keeping the focus of their class? The next time someone says “I don’t understand why he or she doesn’t learn science but they know the words to all the songs!” you answer Repetition-Repetition-Repetition.

Last week I stole a whole show idea and made it into a science lab. I had a day of “Iron Chef Scientific” with judges, cooking to a time clock and food themes. My judges were Administrators, Teachers, Teaching Assistants, Counselors, Parents, and Administrators. We took a whole class split them into teams of 3-4 and took the period to run the lab and serve the judges. It was a great day! The kids were excited and learned science at the same time.

So teachers I throw down the Chairman’s glove in a challenge- “How do you Iron Chef?”

Here is the lab I ran in my classes. Take it modify it to your subject and write me back on how your classes learn while stealing good ideas from television.

 “Science Iron Chef” Contest - Dec. 14th

The rules:

1. Teams must consist of 3-4 students
2. Each team must make a beverage, and two other parts of a meal
   1. 1^st period theme is Breakfast/Brunch
   2. 4^th period theme is lunch/dinner
3. Each beverage and meal must be a unique idea (no plain kool ade)
4. Each beverage and meal must involve either a change of state, solution, heat or some science concept.
5. Each beverage and meal must be made or finished in the classroom during the 45-minute prep time.
6. Teams will be provided ice, one hot plate and some microwave time before serving
7. Teams must provide their own cooking utensils, food (I’m working on a Harris Teeter card for the teams $5-10) and serving tools (forks/spoons/napkins/plates/glasses.)
8. “Science Iron Chefs” will be judged by Dr. Volk and 3 or 4 other teachers or administrators
9. Each presentation of the dish should include a description of the food and a good discussion of the science involved
10. Teams my make extra food for their team or classmates!
11. The teams will be judged on the following criteria:
    1. Taste – 10 points
    2. Presentation- 10 points
    3. Science content- the more science you show & know the more points you get!- 15 points
    4. Working together as a team- 10 points
    5. Originality- 5 points
    6. Style/Imagination- 5 points

The winning team gets a whole class open notes test on SchoolIsland that Friday. Second place gets 25 questions and third place gets 15 questions.

*If Dr. Volk and the judges see a unique level of excellence the whole class may get the second place prize.