POE

When I was listening to the presentation by Kevin Honeycutt, I was thinking abut how my students work in groups for all their labs and certain demonstrations. In Earth Science, I often use a demonstration and simple lab format called a POE (Predict, Observe, Explain). It is an excellent observation and inference activity that can be adapted to most demos and labs. Each student is actively engaged in the POE and is “forced” to express their thoughts on paper and justify/rectify their ideas and observations. Similar to using a KWL, students become familiar with the format and expectations; therefore, they feel more comfortable expressing their predictions and explaining their ideas.

The students work collaboratively but are individually responsible for recording their own understanding. I have used the POE for a crystallization lab that helps students visualize and understand the solidification of molten material into igneous rock. The lab allows the students to decide on how they will test the relationship of cooling time and crystal size.

I could alternatively break the groups into the separate sections of the POE where one group would make the predictions and the other group would record the observations, and they would have to collaborate in the end to make sure that everyone could explain the demo/lab. The class could be given individual grades as well as a whole-class assessment to check on the level of collaboration.