Workshop Teaches How To Make Lessons Interactive

WBIR-TV Knoxville, Tennessee (7/27) reports that teachers in West Knox County, Tennessee this week are attending a series of "grade specific" workshops that are "part of Knox County Schools strategic plan to give teachers the tools for highly effective instruction." At the workshops teachers are learning "ways to incorporate interactive learning into their own lesson plans." One experiment showed "teachers how to use the oil spill to create a hands-on learning opportunity for their students." It began "with a demonstration: oil, water, and a bonding agent. Let it settle for a few minutes then just peel the oil off the top." Presenter Andrea Allen said that students will automatically wonder why the same technique is not applied to the Gulf oil spill. She explained how teachers could guild the students to think through the kinds of problems the technique could cause in the real-life situation.