These were words I heard several times today. We were wrapping up our Great Rock Mix Up unit, and once students had identified all of their rock types, subtypes, and names, they realized there was a pattern to the rock names. All of the rock names were listed in alphabetical order! My students exclaimed I had tricked them since I obviously not only knew all along what rocks were which, but I also had grouped them in a specific way.
There discovery led to a great discussion of grouping. I reminded them that just like they grouped the rocks in any way they chose on day 1, I had chosen to group them alphabetically. I reminded them that none of us are wrong, but categorizing rocks by formation is how scientists do it.
Finally, I asked them if they would have preferred it if I had stood in front of them and lectured while they took notes every day instead. Of course they said no! So I asked them if they really minded that I “tricked” them, and they realized it definitely was a more interesting experience.
This led to our next activity which is to find out personality, multiple intelligence and learning styles of students. This will help me as I create their new teams. Plus, students are getting to know themselves better. It was so exciting today to see students get their results from a Jung style personality test and realize that it did describe them well. And since we are taking these assessments, it has let me explain to my students how I teach and learn, which of course is why my rocks unit was all hands on, inquiry driven.
At the end of the day, I’m pretty sure they have forgiven me for tricking them!
