Whiteboard or Slides for Teaching Equations?

[gleem]

I actually sometimes use the low-tech version of this: projecting directly on the whiteboard and complementing with handwriting.

Another hybrid approach is to us a document camera to project a graphic image . Like the old fashion overhead projector You can then write on the graphic if you wish. Placing a clear film over the graphic will prevent the graphic from being permanently marked. This has an advantage in hand drawing graphs, or which might be easier/quicker than using a drawing program.

One advantage of the document camera is that you can face the audience as you write.

I feel the necessity to annotate (add additional information to) the graphic to keep the attention of the audience. Writing as opposed to presenting another slide with the same information paces the presentation so the audience is not rushed to try and absorb it. Apparently the effective use of slides as an educational tool varies according to the instructor, the audience, and the subject. In case you haven't Google "use of slides in teaching" for advice and opinions on their use and effectiveness .

 

[rsk]

Caveat emptor, I am not a University lecturer but a high school physics/maths teacher. My students are, I suppose, a step behind in terms of independence and initiative. However, I find that slides are not as useful as whiteboards as my students seem to understand more if I explain as I write, rather than just explaining a pre-prepared slide where they might lose track of which particular part of a slide I'm referring to.

When I do feel the need to create slides, I make them in painful detail - each slide contains just one more step from the one before.

 

[rsk]

it pains me to suggest this, but I taught all year in a public school system where smart boards were installed in every classroom and lab.

https://home.smarttech.com/

I was hesitant at first, but you can convert PowerPoint to a notebook and display your slides. You can then write on your slides any clarification that you need to, you can move things around, draw diagrams etc... Still not a total convert, but I can be convinced.

I've used Smartboards at school and once you get used to them they are great, I still haven't found a better system.
You can just use it as a Whiteboard but one on which you can flip back and forwards between pages and then save the whole thing. Or you can import pictures (grest if like me you can't draw to save your life), or pre-prepare diagrams, import video clips etc. You can make the notes available in pdf form to your students later.

(And then you can also mention in your performance review how the facility to save your lecture notes in this way helps you to reflect on your practice ;) This vomit worthy point is crucially important in UK state education these days. )

 

[fishspawned]

At this point we have a variety of opinions on methodology but it may prove to be a better exercise by simply picking out a single topic that would be able to be covered in a typical high school grade 12 physics class, and consider how you would put that class together, assuming you have a limited time of 70 minutes, with students who already understand any required preceding concepts. it could be a fruitful challenge rather than simply asking everyone's anecdotal evidence. this way you can all argue the specific things dealt with in the creation of a particular lesson. this would hopefully lead to a more nuanced understanding towards what goes into lesson planning in general. i myself teach with a combination of slides that i make using photoshop, video, white board use, and demonstrations in the classroom itself.