Ever need an activity that is easy to do, requires little prep and is totally adaptable to any class? The activity I’m sharing in this post is one of
those and is super easy to leave with a sub if you know you’re going to be out. How do I know this? Because I used it in two different classes on different days and with different subs and the student outcomes were no less than impressive! The format is basically the same, you just have to change out your topic, hence the versatility!
Instructions
- Basically, you take any topic you want students to make connections to it’s impact or effects and turn it into a visual poster.
- You may want to assign students specific topics to research statistics for such as genetic and/or environmental birth defects using examples like smoking and spina bifida. Or, you may want to let them explore the topic completely on their own.
- Depending on how quickly or slowly your students work and the length of your class period, you may want to assign more than one. For a 43 minute class, I would assign no more than two.
- If you have access to a printer, these can usually be completed in a 43 minute class period. If students have to print from another room or at home, then allow a few minutes the next day to add pictures.
- These can be orally shared, or they can be set up in a gallery or blog format, assigning names of a certain number of individuals to respond to and make connections to. Connections can be personal, community based, world based or even based on class discussions, case studies and notes.
- You can give as many or as few parameters for the statistics and how you want them connected to the topic. Surprisingly, even when the topics overlapped, there were very few repeats!
- You could also make this a digital poster, but when I’m out, I try to keep the assignments easy for my sub who may not have the technology experience to deal with issues that may arise (hopefully, no explanation needed)!
Materials
- Laptops or iPads
- Construction Paper
- Markers
- Scissors
- Glue Sticks
Attachments
- Birth Defects–Did You Know (PDF)
- Car & Driving Safety–Did You Know_ (PDF)
- Foodborne Illness Did You Know (PDF)
- Vegetarianism–Did You Know (PDF)
