Teaching Tips for a Whiteboard The availability of a chalkfree whiteboard in a classroom presents the opportunity to use some unique teaching techniques. Since t h ~ surface s can be used as a projection screen, as well as a writing surface, an instructor can produce fill-in-the-blank overhead oroiector imaees that can then be com~letedbv student "volunteers". The students a t their " seats can suggest the correct term or formula to put in the blank, or they can "pass the pen" so that teams can came up to the board and complete the project. When this one is done, the answers are quickly erased, the overhead changed, and another installed for the next project. Among the things that lend themselves ta such a treatment are definitions, paragraphs using key terms, diagrams to label, or matrices of formulas. Far example, in the nonmajars'survey course, you could place formulas of mono-, diand trivalent cations along the left side of a projector image and anion formulas across the top. The students then fill in the formulas corresponding to each combination of anion and cation. When that is done, the whiteboard is erased, and they fill in the names of the ionic compounds. For a biochemistry course, one can project animal, plant, or bacterial cell diagrams with lines leading to parts and organelles. The students then label them. Later in the course the same diagrams are used to locate metabolic pathways. The possibilities are limited only by what information you wish to convey. Having discovered how useful this type ofboard is in one mom, I am trying to get whitebaards installed a t the'back" of our other classrooms, These were apparently designed by administrators who put the projector screen in front of the blackboard, thus preventing the effective use of either one. When installed, the whiteboard a t the back of the room will be used as either a screen or writing space while the screen or blackboard is in simultaneous use a t the "front". This arrangement keeps the students and instmetar changing positions and hopefully remaining alert, or a t least awake. Thus, whitebaards are much more versatile than just being a way to eliminate chalkdust!
.
Terry L. Helser SUNY College at Oneonta Oneonta, NY 13820-4015
Volume 72
Number 3
March 1995
223
