Each year, we develop new lessons that teachers can put to work in their classrooms. Little Shop of Physics lessons make science hands-on, exciting and engaging. Each year we share these lessons with teachers in Colorado, neighboring states, and even other countries.
How Are Workshops Structured?
For each of the topics in this workshop, there is a sequence of activities that follow the “5 Es”: Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend, Evaluate.
Each session begins with a series of Engage activity. This is usually a flashy demo or an intriguing question, which is designed to set the framework of the activity.
Next comes one or more Explore activities. These are open-ended hands-on investigations designed to give participants a chance to explore, to get a feeling for the topics to be discussed.
The sessions then continue with a traditional classroom interaction, the Explain portion, with illustrated slides or handouts, which are excellent reference to the material of the course.
The sessions finish with an Extend activity, a chance for participants to use the knowledge and insight they gained. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle, to let folks apply what they just learned.
Finally, we finish with some form of Evaluation, a formal or informal assessment, which could be as simple as discussing what worked well, or as detailed as a written test.
Sample Activities
Please check out our Lesson Plans and Ten Things pages to see some sample activities from workshops.
