Presenting to Peers

We had an awesome assignment on Monday. We all paired up and gave a presentation. I was paired with Alejandro. We were given a page with information on "The Student Lens." We read about how a young girl with a green thumb was not accepting new information because it contradicted her gardening experience. The little girl that she needed to use soil, sunlight, water and fertilizer for her plant to grow. So, when her teacher said that a plant makes its own food, the little girl would not accept that to be true. The problem was defining terms. The Student Lens is the perception that a student that has not reach abstract thinking skills uses to accept and reject new knowledge and, thus, subscribes to misconceptions.

My group was the first to present. After presenting, Josh had a question and I tried to answer it without listening to it completely. I felt bad because he didn't get to finish his question. (I sometimes think I can read people's minds, but I can't.) The next two presentations were about "The Scientist's Lens" and we were going to see a video of strategies that teachers can use when presenting. (We will see the film next Monday.) I identified the secret: probing. By asking the right questions, a teacher can test her students' comprehension. Our next critical review is on Scientific Discourse and probing is a key term in the reading.