5 Tech-Free Classroom Innovations, and Ideas for Getting Started by Kyle Wagner

This article provides a list of ways for science teachers to bring invitation into the classroom in a safe and economical way. Some of the ideas that I want to focus on that I have not considered before are; Innovation day, Classroom gardens, Field Education, and Genius hour. Each of these ideas would fit best into a certain realm of science and may not fit so well in others.

Innovation Day: This is designed to be a day for students to be innovative thinkers. Students will be able to spend the day exploring topics that interest them and creating something based off of the interest. In my classroom, it would be interesting to spend one day per unit to let students explore the unit more in depth. They can choose any part of it and explore. It may be possible that I have several labs set up (That aren't dangerous for students to explore with) and allow students to figure out how to solve the problem they have come up with. For example I could have heat of fusion labs set-up and I'd give basic safety information and other than that allow students to put things together and solve the problem.

Classroom Gardens: This is not something that would be considered innovative but in an environmental class it can be a learning experience for student to see how to nurture plants. Sometime plants may die and they have to re evaluate what they are doing. In this students will be given parameters of a budget and space and they will have to create a garden that is most effective at grow plants for the cafeteria.  

Field Education: This idea isn’t a particularly new idea. Scientific discoveries are based in field work. Through collecting data and analyzing that data students will gain authentic experience. If I am teaching an environmental or chemistry class I think a great way to gain student awareness of environmental issues is to introduce them to ones in their local area. Here in Maine there are so many waterways and wildlife within them. Students could work with problems that the local wildlife face and they could figure out and test ways to solve problems.

Genius Hour: This idea is similar to innovation day but it works the time into the day more often. It is also called 20% time. The goal of this is to get students doing individual innovative thinking 20% of the time. This can be achieved in labs or in person exploration  This innovation can not happen all at once. Students are very used to letting other people (or phones) to think for them. It takes time for students to build the confidence to be able to explore topics with no guidance. Through the semester, I will scaffold the students into being innovative thinkers.

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