I experienced the true frontier of educational civilization; a physics classroom in Vanderhoof BC…..
The desks were neatly arranged in four rows, one column to the left, and one column to the right. Four students could sit in each box, and there was plenty of room to move between everyone. The back wall was for materials; glass wear, wires, demo materials. To my right was a brick wall with narrow slits for windows that opened to an interior courtyard while my left wall was full white boards. Behind me, three sliding panels of green chalk board, and a box of high quality coloured chalk.
Chalk boards are hands down better than white boards but boy do they take some getting used to. I couldn’t believe how much easier chalk boards were to clean than white boards. The coloured chalk was also more reliable than white board markers. How do you know a white board marker works? You don’t. More frustratingly a marker dies gradually so you have to assert when you’ve had enough with it. Worst of all many won’t want to throw away a deadish marker, while others will throw away something perfectly useful. How do you know chalk isn’t dead? You’re holding it.
Cons to chalk boards: honestly there really wasn’t one except that in this class room, the computer screen was off to the side, and a little small for notes to be displayed upon it.
Challenges that I had to overcome include; writing notes fully as some students didn’t like my short sentence fragments. Drawing skills need to be planned out as colouring takes time and skill. Do you really want to colour in all of the peas? Maybe a slide show would have been easier. How on Earth do you orient your body to the classroom, and to board to draw and scribe properly? huh? HUH? You only learn by doing, and that’s the point of “practicum”.
