Say%20What%20You%20Mean%20-%20Effective%20Explanations%20in%20the%20Classroom

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Say What You Mean - Effective Explanations in the
Classroom

• By Greg Paziuk

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Todays Workshop

1. Explanations vs. Descriptions
2. Steps Towards Explanation
3. What to Consider
4. Tools of the Trade
5. Keeping Your Audience Engaged

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Welcome

• Find a partner
• Explain yourself to your partner
• 2-3 minutes
• Two or three groups to share what they focused on
  in their explanations

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What makes a good explanation?
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The difference between explanations and
descriptions

• Explanations
• Systematic arguments
• Addressing how and why
• Usually include cause and effect statements

• Descriptions
• Concentrate on superficial details
• Number
• Size
• Name
• Place

According to Treagust, D., and Harrison, A.
(1999). The genesis of effective scientific
explanations for the classroom. In J. Loughran,
Researching teaching Methodologies and practices
for understanding pedagogy (pp.28-41). London
Falmer Press.
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Steps Towards Explanation

1. Have a target
2. Explore the idea together
3. Make your case
4. Involve your audience
5. Re-express, reiterate, and elaborate
6. Provide a summary and a conclusion

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Prepare for the unexpected!

1. Have a target
2. Make your case
3. Explore the idea together
4. Re-express, reiterate, and elaborate
5. Involve your audience
6. Provide a summary and a conclusion

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What should you consider in your explanation?
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Is this concept abstract?
Courtesy of http//mysimpsonsblogisgreaterthanyour
s.tumblr.com/
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What is this related to?
Courtesy of http//ynevar.wordpress.com/2010/04/13
/diversity-training-apples-vs-oranges-pt-ii/
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Will my audience have been exposed to these
ideas before, or is this brand new to them?
Courtesy of http//www.jaymail.net/2010/08/jaymail
-sending-platform/
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How much of the picture will students need in
order to understand?
Courtesy of http//www.kidsgeo.com/geography-for-k
ids/0169-tropical-rain-forest-biomes.php
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Are there multiple perspectives on the idea you
are explaining?
Courtesy of http//www.currin.biz/unitpages/drawin
g.htm
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Tools of the Trade
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Use Your Voice

• Dont be like Homer
• Project
• Enunciate
• Emphasize key points or words
• Repeat questions to the class

http//download.lardlad.com/sounds/season11/mansio
n7.mp3
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Find Your Pace

• Not too fast, but not too slow, eh?
• Include brief pauses
• Avoid monotone presentations

http//www.youtube.com/watch?v5FEW5mh7iAI
http//www.youtube.com/watch?vdxPVyieptwA
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Speak to be Understood

• Avoid jargon
• Define terminology
• Tailor your language to your audience
• Speak as you would speak write as you would
  write
• Practice, practice, practice

http//splasho.com/upgoer5/
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Come Prepared

• Set down the steps of your explanation
• Determine why what you have to say is important
• Rehearse your explanation
• Leave room for contingencies, so that you can
  respond to your audiences needs as they change

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Be Present and Active

• Incorporate gestures and facial expressions
• Use movement and expression to keep your
  audiences attention and encourage response
• Use the room
• But dont over do it

http//www.youtube.com/watch?vHCMohCREiN8
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Verbal Communication

• Compare and contrast to show how ideas relate
• Metaphors
• Similes
• Analogies
• Add a human element
• Anecdotes
• Allusions
• Personal Stories

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Represent Your Ideas Visually

• Pictures can serve as evidence in your argument
• Diagrams may be used to represent processes
  visually
• Charts can make the results of your data more
  clear

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Appeal to all Senses

• What does your idea feel like? taste like? smell
  like? sound like?
• How can you make your idea physical?
• Dramatizations
• Demonstrations
• Re-enactment

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Provide Some Context

• Connect what you want to explain to other
  concepts your audience is familiar with
• Provide compelling reasons for your audience to
  care about your subject

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Nuclear Power

• Explanation in Action

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What do we know about nuclear power?

• How does it work?
• What is it used for?
• Why is it used?
• When is it used?
• Where is it used?
• Who uses it?

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Todays Objectives

• Define nuclear power
• Explain how it works
• Discuss its uses
• Explore current issues

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What is Nuclear Power?

• Nuclear power is a way of making heat and
  electricity from what is called nuclear energy.
  This is a type of energy that is produced when
  atoms collide, decay, or separate. The last case
  is called nuclear fission. Much of the worlds
  nuclear power comes from nuclear fission.

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(How did we do?)
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How Does Nuclear Power Work?
http//www.45nuclearplants.com/nuclear_reactor_des
igns.asp
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Lets Act It Out
What would it look like to act out the processes
that take place inside a nuclear reactor?
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Heres Another

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vCXJ-rm-yO7k

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Why Should We Care?
Some say nuclear power is especially susceptible
to natural disasters http//www.pakalertpress.com
/2013/06/08/holy-fukushima-radiation-from-japan-is
-already-killing-north-americans/ Others say the
dangers of nuclear power outweigh the
benefits http//www.youtube.com/watch?vXsnL6gmGO
ZA What do you think?
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In Summary

• Nuclear power produces electricity by harnessing
  and controlling nuclear reactions and converting
  them into usable energy
• The majority of nuclear power comes from nuclear
  fission, which entails harnessing energy created
  when radioactive elements break down or separate
• Periodically, different groups have argued that
  nuclear power is too dangerous and its dangers
  outweigh its benefits

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(An Overall Summary)

• Explanations focus on the how and the why of
  a subject
• Different audiences respond to different mediums
• Demonstrate to your audience why the topic is
  important
• Plan, practice, repeat