Task Cards: From Consumers to ProducersPhilip White and Paul Longo

Department of EducationQueens College, City University of New York

Flushing, New York 11367

It is quite appropriate for the pre-service teacher to be exposedto all the material typically presented in a methods course. For thispurpose, there exists a variety of resources including methods texts,manipulative aides and professional journals. Clearly these are appro-priate and useful sources for the pre-service and in-service teacher.However, there exists at least two major difficulties. First, teachersoften go through the material without really understanding its truepotential and secondly, the existing material is not always availablein a form that would prove useful to a teacher in an open classroom.This article will attempt to deal with ways of stimulating teachersto re-examine existing material with an eye to developing their ownunique uses for them. We are suggesting a means of moving teachersfrom being purely consumers to producers of ideas that are usefulfor students in their own classes.

In the model we are proposing, pre-service or in-service teacherswould be presented with the opportunity to develop their own taskcards. We believe this will result in an improvement of not onlytheir ability to create task cards, but in their appreciation of theimaginative and intellectual potential inherent in such self-directedactivities for children.We are suggesting a marriage of process and product. The teacher

is presented with a specific task to perform that will in itself lendto a product that now defines a task for children. Like the children,the teachers will be presented with an open-ended problem requiringresolution. The problem may center around a discrepant event, anexperimental situation or a specific educational activity. Given thesituation, the teacher’s goal is to use the event to create task cardsthat present a well-defined and educationally productive activity forchildren. The actual creation of the task card by the teacher is itselfa model of the process that the children will engage in when theyapproach the tasks.Let us offer an illustration of the approach we are suggesting by

sharing a specific example that we have used with several groupsofpre-and in-service teachers. It should be pointed out that the specificevent we chose to use as the basis of our demonstration is not inand of itself of any particular importance. Any similar device wouldbe equally useful. In the experience we chose, we asked each member

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of the class to cut out a Y-shaped piece of paper (See diagram A).

l^x. (»"

DIAGRAM A

Class members were asked to predict what would happen when itwas dropped from an 8-foot height. After each teacher had ventureda prediction, the paper was dropped. As might be expected, the paperfluttered to the ground in a rather aimless fashion. At this pointwe briefly discussed some of the variables that might influence howthe paper had dropped. These included the weight of the paper used,the specific way it was cut, the angle of the cut, air currents inthe room, etc. Students were then asked to predict what would happenif a paper clip were added to the bottom of the Y and dropped fromthe same height. (See diagram B). Based on their previous experience,student predictions changed slightly and included the following: "Itwill fall faster" ... "It will fall straighter" ... "It will fall ata 45° angle."

.2-DIAGRAM B

The paper was released and observations were again made on itsflight or path. Usually the paper rotated slightly, but in general itdropped more swiftly and in a more direct trajectory. The flutteringwas definitely less pronounced and this led to a discussion of thenumber of drops it would take to make an accurate prediction offree fall. Students realized they could not assume a knowledge offlight on the basis of 1 or 2 drops. This led into an interesting discussion

716School Science and Mathematics

on the number of trials necessary to make a prediction with confidence.The next modification was to make a cut through the center of

the Y. (See diagram C). Based on their two prior experiences many

^DIAGRAM C

students suggested the paper would now flutter again, while otherssuggested the cut would have no effect. In our experiences, aftera number of trials, the students agreed that the cut had some effectupon free fall, but no consistent pattern emerged. Most agreed thataccurate prediction was not possible based on the observed behavior.For our next modification, the two flaps on the Y were folded

in opposite directions, at right angles to the bottom of the Y. (Seediagram D). Predictions againwere sought and ranged from’ ’fluttering’’to "no change" to "it will spin."

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4-DIAGRAM D

When released, students were generally quite surprised at the results.The paper dropped more slowly and developed a pronounced rotatingeffect. Students immediately compared the resulting flight to thatof the propeller on a helicopter. Since the paper, as now modified,continued to exhibit the same rotating effect, students were not onlywilling to predict future behavior, but anxious to offer some preliminaryexplanations for it.At this juncture we asked the class to continue to experiment with

the minature "helicopters," but to do so with the intention of creatingtask cards that would encourage children to investigate the phenomenathey were observing. Specifically we asked them to suggest interestingquestions that could be asked about the behavior of the "helicopter."

Task Cards 717

Up to this point we had structured an "experimenting" environmentin which students were asked to predict results and were free tomake mistakes, an altogether too uncommon experience in mostschools. The students were now asked to make their own paper"helicopters" and generate as many activities as they could thinkof. Each was asked to suggest a minimum of three questions thatcould be asked or three follow-up activities that might be used.An appropriate amount of time was allowed for further exploration

and the devising of questions. Then individuals offered their sugges-tions to the class and these were tried. This often resulted in arefinement of the way questions were posed and usually led to furtherquestions or speculations. The end result was that teachers cameaway from the session with several specific task cards of their owncreation as well as the numerous suggestions of their colleagues whichthey could either use as given or modify as they saw fit.

SummaryThere can be a sense of exhiliration and satisfaction that results

from creating task cards that are the product of one’s personal effortsand investigations. The usefulness of this approach is not in the isolatedactivity suggested here, but in the fact that many similar possibilitiesexist which can be expanded upon the utilized in this particular fashion.They provide a stimulus for generating ideas rather than consumingthem from existing sources. The sense of confidence that teachersexperience knowing that they are capable of producing on their ownappears to give them a heightened sense of competency. With ourstudents it appeared to sensitize them to their own creativity.

In a limited sense these teachers were operating at a level thatis closer to the reality of the process of science. They were notfollowing someone else’s prescription for a demonstration, the answerto which is carefully predetermined. They were determining theirown direction by asking questions and suggesting ideas, the answersto which were not known. In addition, they were "sciencing" ina manner that can be more directly transferred to the environmentof the open classroom.

This approach may now allow the teacher to look at text booksor suggestions for activities in a different way. It enables her touse these materials as departure points as well as goals. It providesher with a source of ideas for the generation of new activity cards.Activities can now be viewed as means and not simply ends andthat is much closer to the view of science we want to communicateto children.The number and quality of activities is limited only to the imagination

and creativity of the teacher. It is our belief that the competant teacher

718School Science and Mathematics

can generate these activities more effectively and on a more realisticlevel than the distant publisher of books or educational materialscan.Perhaps most important, we believe the teacher is far more likely

to use her own material than that of a publisher, particularly in instancesin which the answer is not known. In so doing, she is identifyingwith the true spirit of scientific inquiry. Perhaps some of the enthusiasmthat the inquiry can generate will replace the fear that makes somuch science teaching in our schools an experiment in ego preservationrather than an investigation of the unknown.

Construction of the Centimeter Using a Straight Edge,Compass and 1" Length

Vincent J. HawkinsToll Gate High School

Warwick, Rhode Island 02886

1) Construct midpoint, M, of any segment, AB.2) Construct perpendicular at A.3) Using A as_center and AM as a radius, mark off P on the perpendicular.4) Construct PB. __ __5) Construct line 1 parallel to AB through Q, the intersection of the arc and PB.6) Mark off \" from A, and construct ~PN. __7) The distance from the intersection of 1 and PA to the intersection of 1 and

PN is 1 centimeter in length.