Transform Your Learning
Activity Summary
This is a useful activity that encourages students to ‘do’ something with the information that has been presented to them through synthesizing their learning by turning it creatively into a new format. Students must represent their learning by changing, adapting and reinterpreting the information it offers them an opportunity to create something as well as reflecting on their learning.
Activity Plan
1
20 min (or longer)
This exercise will look different in every class, depending on the topic/subject matter and the material available to you. The concept behind this exercise is that students are asked to convert a piece of information into a different form. It gives the students an opportunity to recreate information – forcing them to think for themselves!
For example:
- Using whatever material available in their pencil case they have to demonstrate/represent a concept, poem, process or model.
- Turn keywords into a poem
- Paint a piece of music
- Create a freeze-frame
- Change text, characters, rule or theorem to a diagram or image
2
10-30 min (or longer)
Consider if the students should present their creations afterwards either for the whole class or in smaller groups.
Tips & Tricks
- Students can work individually, in pairs or in groups depending on the exercise and the needs of the class.
- Don’t be afraid to play around and have fun with this – the whole point is to make the piece of information memorable.
- This process of changing a piece of information into a different form offers students an opportunity to take ownership of their learning and represent the piece of information in a way that makes sense to them.
- Emphasize the importance of creation and experimentation over perfection. This is a quick and intuitive exercise.
- This activity fits in multiple parts of the learning journey, and can both be used in an exploration of a topic as well as a reflection and conclusion of a topic.