Feedback session: Grade 8, Introduction to Light

General lesson feedback

Technical details:

Often a successful lesson gets tripped up by technical details that go wrong. In this case, some of the light boxes didn’t work as the previous class had blown the bulb. We discussed how important planning is. We all reflected that it is important to make sure there is enough time for setting yourself up before a lesson.

Also make sure that students don’t have the opportunity to play with equipment they might break – if it is necessary then tell them clearly how to use it properly. Give clear instructions on what is going to happen while they are still in classroom setting.

Miscellaneous

Set the tone up to be a bit chaotic. A new classroom for a practical is not always ideal.

Use teach like a champion techniques to improve the classroom management and therefore the learning.

Phrasing of questions can lead to answer “does the water bend the light?” “Yes”. Student knows the answer is “yes” not because they understand the work, but because of the way the question was asked.

Positive feedback

ED has a very comfortable rapport with the kids. They felt very free and confident.

The use of notes to write down the “correct” definitions was very useful. The kids were more comfortable writing them down from the board than from verbal recall. They were more engaged writing them down than if the definitions had been given to them outright.

Specific lesson feedback

Language in science and Terminology

• Perhaps use pictures in the descriptions of the definitions.
• Unsure if they understood even though they wrote the definition down. NP was still confused!!
• Suggestion: Do each term separately. First discuss the term and definition, then do the practical investigation, then discuss using diagrams. During the discussion, link to everyday examples.

Visualisation of abstract concepts

• Practical can be confusing, especially because in some cases, all the processes happened in one of the observations. That should have been discussed. That one object can have absorption, reflection and refraction.
• As a remedy to this: once again, do each term separately and discuss clearly with diagrams when winding up.