How to Use Interactive Demonstrations

General Considerations

There are a number of issues that deserve consideration when planning a demonstration (O'Brien, 1991; NRC, 1997):

• What concepts do you want the demonstration to illustrate?
• Which demonstrations on the selected topic will generate the greatest enhancement in student learning?
• When during the class would a demonstration be most effective?
• What prior knowledge should be reviewed before the demonstration?
• What steps in the demonstration procedure should be carried out ahead of time?
• What questions will be appropriate to motivate and direct student observation and thought processes before, during, and after the demonstration?
• What follow-up questions can be used to enhance students' understanding of the new concept?

Demonstrations that use everyday objects require little preparation on the part of faculty. For demonstrations that will be repeated from semester to semester, all the items needed for the demonstration can be stored in a single bin, drawer, shelf, or cart so that they are easy to retrieve and reassemble for subsequent semesters.

Use in Specific Class Contexts

Interactive Lecture or Lab Demonstrations

Several scientists in the physics education research community have recently devoted time and energy directed at improving the student learning experience during interactive lecture demonstrations. Andrew Duffy, from Boston University, has a short page summarizing his efforts at improving Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (more info) in his physics classes. He describes a typical demonstration structure as follows:

• Professor describes the experiment, and carries it out without recording data.
• Students record their predictions of the outcome on a Prediction Sheet.
• Peer discussion follows, with the students discussing their predictions in small groups.
• Professor engages class, soliciting predictions and highlighting common predictions.
• Students record their final prediction on the Prediction Sheet (this is collected).
• The experiment is run. Real data is recorded and plotted by the computer, with the results displayed graphically for all to see.
• Professor engages class, discussing what students say about their predictions and focusing in particular on any common misconceptions. Students record the results on a Results Sheet, which they keep.
• Professor discusses variations of the experiment and similar physical situations based on the same underlying concepts.

See also Sokoloff and Thornton's article, Using Interactive Lecture Demonstrations to Create an Active Learning Environment (more info) .

Student Demonstration Projects

Bob MacKay at Clark College has a student demonstration project assignment that he has used very successfully in his introductory meteorology and physics courses.

Many of the physics demonstrations at the UC Berkeley Lecture Demonstrations site are appropriate in the introductory geoscience context as ideas for faculty and students.

Craig Bohren from Penn State also has two books on demonstrations appropriate for the atmospheric sciences (Clouds in a Glass of Beer and What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks).