15 Mar
2012
Greg Schwanbeck teaches physics at Westwood High School, you can follow him on twitter here
I use Remind101 for all sorts of useful things, like letting students know online grades have just been updated, or getting the word out to astronomy students that observation night has been cancelled due to clouds.
But one of the more fun things I've been doing with Remind101 is running bonus trivia contests for my classes. It works like this; students get a message to the effect of "A new physics bonus challenge has just been posted to class website, first two to email me the correct answer win homework passes!"
At first glance such contests may seem to simply be trivial fun, but they do serve a practical purpose.
First, these contests get students to sign up for Remind101. I didn't want to make using Remind101 mandatory for my students--not all of them have unlimited text plans and a small number were skeptical about giving out their phone numbers. Getting students to sign up purely on the basis of being able to have me "nag" them about study reminders and the like would have been a hard sell. But by pitching Remind101 with the promise that there would be fun bonus opportunities involved, I got a very high response rate--more than 90% of students in my physics classes signed up.
Second, and more important educationally, the contests are an engaging and fun way to extend science beyond the classroom. Sure, being able to correctly identify a physicist hiding behind a pair of sunglasses is not in itself a worthwhile learning objective. But the student is probably going to stumble across some useful or interesting physics information as they poke around the internet trying to solve the bonus question. Better yet, the student brings up the question at the dinner table, and all of a sudden physics or astronomy becomes a family discussion.
How Mr. Schwanbeck shares remind101 on his website
Giving prizes out to only the first student (or first few students) that email(s) me the correct answer is vital--I've found in the past that if everyone who submits a correct answer gets a prize the students will quickly share the answer with their friends, defeating the entire point of the exercise. Remind101 is the only way I've found that allows me to do this effectively. I could just post the contest on my class website, but the class website is not even close to being a part of my students' daily routines. The lone student who happened to stumble across the website after a bonus challenge had been posted would have a huge advantage, and the contest would feel like a game of luck rather than skill. With Remind101, all my students get the text at the same time, so it's a fair start for those who decide to participate.
My students have really enjoyed these bonus trivia challenges this year. They've energized the class and gotten the kids engaged in physics in a fun way--on their own time to boot!
So… can you identify those physicists? Do you know what those eight schools have in common?
-Greg Schwanbeck
