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Brian Shmaefsky
Example Demonstration 1
D
emonstrations are sometimes per-
ceived as merely entertaining and The Effects of Gravity on
expendable ancillaries for lec- Falling Objects
tures and laboratory sessions. Noth- It is surprising how many students
ing can be further from the truth. If still believe that heavier objects fall
done properly, demonstrations have faster than lighter objects. Plus, not
much more value than lectures and all students fully understand the in-
labs when used to teach critical think- fluence of atmospheric density on
Photos courtesy of the author
ing in the sciences (Shmaefsky 2004). the rate and pattern of falling. This
Science demonstrations were the demonstration helps students evalu-
hallmark of kindergarten through col- ate the variables associated with fall-
lege teaching until the 1990s. How- ing objects.
ever, various factors have led to their The materials needed for this
departurean influx of faculty unfa- demonstration are two 16-ounce or
miliar with classical demonstrations, larger paper cups, two 16-ounce or
budget cuts limiting the use of instruc- larger Styrofoam cups, two tennis
tional materials, an overreaction to lecture or lab. Stand-alone demonstra- balls, one hard baseball, one Ping
classroom safety by administrators, tions done just for entertainment di- Pong ball, one golf ball, and two equal
and the perception that demonstra- minish the instructional value of sub- size sheets of paper.
tions should be replaced with more sequent classroom demonstrations. I begin by introducing the ration-
lecture information to cover the bur- Many faculty believe that it takes ale for doing the demonstration. I then
geoning science content in textbooks. a certain personality to pull off an ef- stand on a high surface within view of
An educationally effective dem- fective science demonstration. Per- all students in the class and announce
onstration must follow the same sonality helps, but it is not the main that they are to determine if the ob-
guidelines as any other pedagogical ingredient for a successful demonstra- jects hit the ground at the same time,
strategy (Figure 1). It must be tion. The format in Figure 2, applied which many of them expect.
accurate, informative, instructional, to an informative demonstrative, pro- I drop the two tennis balls to-
interactive, and relevant. Most impor- vides an effective learning experience gether, as a control, to see if they hit
tantly, a demonstration must for students. the ground at the same time. Next, I
incorporate an element that permits summarize what happened, question
assessment of student learning. Plus, FIGURE 1. the students about why it happened,
a good demonstration should rein- and drop a tennis ball and a baseball
force the experimental design inher- Effective demonstration properties. to see if they hit the ground at the
ent in the scientific method. Instruc- Accurate same time. I summarize what hap-
tors who use demonstrations should Demonstrates scientific method pened and question the students about
use them to introduce or reinforce why it happened. I tell them to note
Informative
abstract scientific concepts covered in that the balls are similar sizes but dif-
Instructional ferent densities. Then, I drop the golf
Interactive ball and the Ping Pong ball to see if
Brian Shmaefsky is a professor of biology they hit the ground at the same time.
Permits student assessment
at Kingwood College, Kingwood, TX 77339; Finally, I summarize what happened
e-mail: Brian.Shmaefsky@nhmccd.edu. Relevant and question the students about why
FIGURE 2.
JULY/AUGUST 2004 61
with an experiment to determine the ask the class to explain the popula- students dont step on each others
cause of the population differences. I tion change. I explain that research toes during the shuffling around. Plus,
say, Before you tell me about your shows that this particular pesticide I take care not to strain my back while
experiments, let me conduct one to converts male fish into females. Fi- taping off the ponds.
see if my hunch is correct. nally, I ask the class how they would Demonstrations are powerful
I ask all the students to leave the confirm this piece of evidence with learning tools when properly used in
ponds and then invite four female stu- another experiment. To summarize combination with other teaching strat-
dents and four male students to stand the results, I ask the class how this egies. They are effective ways to
in each pond. I say, Let me start my experiment could be applied to other model scientific principles in a man-
experiment with two equal ponds. Now environmental or health issues facing ner that allows students to visualize,
I will add some of the same pesticide society and wildlife. practice, and apply the information
found in the pond having all females I use this demonstration to help being presented.
in the population. I explain that I am students analyze news stories about
doing this because I think the pesticide pollution, cancer, or diets. It helps References
is the cause of the observation. them to learn to recognize whether the Shmaefsky, B.R., ed. 2004. Favorite
I then throw the index cards into information was gathered using con- Demonstrations for College Sci-
one pond, replace the four male stu- trolled experiments. In terms of ence. Arlington, Va.: NSTA Press.
dents with four female students, and safety, it is important to be sure that Available online at store.nsta.org.