In the Classroom
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Acrostic Puzzles in the Classroom Dorothy Swain Marshfield High School, 10th and Ingersoll, Coos Bay, OR 97420;
[email protected] I use acrostic puzzles as a regular component of my high school science classes. Acrostics use clues to generate words whose letters are rearranged to make a quotation about science. The author of the quotation is contained in the answers to the clues. The clues can come from all areas of knowledge and encourage students to think outside of their disciplinary focus. Students need to bring all of their knowledge to this task, not just what they have learned in science classes. Students practice word-recall skills, spelling, and pattern recognition. Afterwards, they have a stimulating quotation to think about, as well as the name of a noted thinker. I use these puzzles as a warm-up activity once a week. I provide a dictionary and thesaurus for each table of students, encouraging them to work together. Students are less skeptical about learning new words from a classmate than from a teacher. After attendance, I circulate around the room, giving hints and praise and answering questions. Under these conditions, most students finish the puzzle in 10–15 minutes. If a clue stumps everyone, I write that answer on the board. Afterwards, a student reads the quotation out loud and we brainstorm what it means and how it fits into the class. Students are invited to write their own evaluation of the quotation or research five facts about the author for extra credit. I check the puzzles and extra credit for points at the end of the week. Composing these puzzles is a wonderful puzzle in itself. I write my own puzzles and encourage students to try their hand at it as well. I now have ~15 student puzzles and over a hundred of my own. Eight puzzles with a chemistry focus are avail-
www.JCE.DivCHED.org
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able in the Supplemental Material.W Finding an interesting quotation that contains all the letters in the author’s name is the crucial first step. Either find one in a reference book or make one up and fit the letters of your own name into it. Lay out the author’s name as the starting letters for the answer to each clue. From the remaining letters in the quotation, figure out how many of each letter is available and start the trialand-error process of using all the letters to complete a set of words. It helps to keep track of the consonant–vowel ratio so that neither one is depleted too early. A list of element symbols or two-letter state abbreviations is a useful catchall for pesky letters that just will not fit. To format puzzles on the computer, I use the table function in Microsoft Word. These puzzles need multiple proof-readings because typos are deadly. Students enjoy “Acrostic Mondays”. By using quotations that fit with what we are learning about in class, I expose them to the history and philosophy of science without lecturing. The quotations provide me with a common background of “wisdom” that I can draw on when trying to explain difficult concepts throughout the year. Being able to say, “You’re right, that is a mystery. Do you remember what Einstein had to say about that?” at just the right moment is perhaps the greatest benefit of using these puzzles. Supplemental Material Eight acrostic puzzles and solutions with a chemistry focus and a short biography of each quoted author are available in this issue of JCE Online. W
Vol. 83 No. 4 April 2006
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Journal of Chemical Education
589
