By the same token, you will be able to adapt the 12 ideas described here to suit a wide variety of situations. I pass around brightly colored note cards and ask them to write a short autobiography about their science classes to give me a handle on their background. This brief history also benefits the students because it allows them to reflect on how science affects their lives outside of school. Using student questions to introduce a unit. Everyone writes a question about the topic at hand and puts it in a fish bowl.
Student groups pull a question from the bowl and try to answer it in three minutes.
Not only does this technique demonstrate that science is more about questions than answers, but it also focuses students' attention, stimulates deep processing, and promotes active learning. Starting the lesson with a question. At the beginning of class, give students a question that reviews yesterday's material or introduces a new topic. I ask my students to write their responses on half a sheet of paper. They are also welcome to collaborate with a partner.