Using a Mini-conference to increase participation

The idea of a mini-conference is very appealing to me. I have had my chemistry students use presentations in the past to show the development of periodic table. However, I like the idea of... See More

The idea of a mini-conference is very appealing to me. I have had my chemistry students use presentations in the past to show the development of periodic table. However, I like the idea of assigning each study group a big idea and letting them show the development of that idea. Many high school students as well as students in introductory college science courses do not grasp how major ideas of scientific thought are developed. This is a great way to help them see scientific understanding improves over time.

Mini confernce over science topics

The authors increase student participation in a large lecture course by including small group projects which were presented in a mini-conference format at the end of the course. Students ind... See More

The authors increase student participation in a large lecture course by including small group projects which were presented in a mini-conference format at the end of the course. Students indicated that they enjoyed this method of learning, however, their responses may have been colored by the fact this took place instead of an end-of-course assessment. Still the idea of increasing student involvement and ownership of learning is an interesting idea. I have done similar groupwork with my middle and high school classes, although I had not thought to use the conference idea, and have also found it successful in increasing student responsibility for learning.