180: Day 9: Whiteboard walk

I usually do whiteboards as “meetings,” but hear recently of “whiteboard walks.” These walks are designed to mimic scientific poster sessions, where one student stays with their board, and the others walk to other boards and have conversations with the “authors” of the other boards.

I tried this with my AP Physics C class today, and it seemed to go well. I like it because it takes less time than a full “board meeting,” and also allow students to engage in small groups with others who are not in their lab group. I told them that each member of their group should go to a different group.

We were whiteboarding a few problems they had for homework, so after the walk was finished, I did a quick review of the important items they should have noticed. I’m still a bit worried about me “summarizing”/”highlighting” at the end, fearing that students may not take the board sessions as seriously since they can “get the answers at the end,” but I guess that’s what high school teaching is all about–transforming mindsets slowly 🙂