DEMO: Teaching the 21st Century Student

2.5

Rotating flips

What & Why

ROTATING FLIPS is a potent brainstorming method drawing on participants’ active and passive knowl- edge and their lived experiences. The method is based on ‘sending’ a problem from one group to another to

share existing awareness about that issue. The result is a collection of knowledge and assumptions, as well as questions for further inquiry which create a fertile ground for new learning. The method not only raises curiosity for new topics, but also contributes to realization of meanings and building and retention of vocabulary and concepts.

How to set up This method is suitable for introducing terminology or key questions re- lating to a problem or issue. 1 The teacher selects a set of topic-relevant tasks, such as key terms, concepts, subjects, questions, problems, or dilemmas. 2 The students organize into the number of groups equivalent to the number of tasks. The number of tasks can be adjusted to the size of the class and the prospective groups, and vice versa. 3 Each group gets one task, a flip-chart sheet of paper, and a few mark- ers. They start working on the first task; they note definitions, expla- nations, analyses, evaluations, provide examples, or add visuals. 4 After they are finished, all groups send their charts to the neighboring groups. All flips rotate in the same direction. Groups review the infor- mation in turns and add their notes. They comment or correct each of the tasks. If a group gets stuck, the teacher encourages them to make guesses, inferences, or associations.

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