One anticipatory set I really like using is a video clip I created to begin an ark of teaching Photosynthesis. The video shows disks of spinach leaves cut out with a plastic straw. The discs have been treated to remove all air from them, so they have sunk to the bottom of a beaker filled with what appears in the video to be pure water. As the video plays, it’s nature displays that it is a time-lapse video. The discs rise up to the surface and float. Why would this be? I show the video a few different times. The students create a “Notice-Wonder” T-chart (on my top-five favorite chart types) after a couple of viewings. We continue to share out some notice wonder pieces with the group. Obviously, the initial set leads directly to the lesson, but there are several pieces here that I think make it especially good.
- Students appreciate materials created by their own teacher. They are also very good about materials I find and disseminate, but there is something special when you make the items yourself in a novel fashion.
- There is a hook of a video. I do not overuse videos at all in my lessons, so this is novel and instantly engages the students.
- Student really appreciate being able to watch a video with no task, no job. It relaxes them, and allows their minds to wander and be curious, instead of forcing them into worker-bee mode.
- With multiple watches of a 30 second video, they know what to expect, so start to notice other tiny details. This is great science practice, and the things they notice really lead us into some great discussions.
- This whole thing becomes the backbone and anchoring phenomena for our photosynthesis learning.