Subject Sampler - for creating affective connections

Teachers choose to create a Subject Sampler when…

1. you want students to feel connected to the topic
2. you want to motivate students to explore the topic further
3. you have a short period of time and a small number of great sites to share
4. you want your students to respond individually or in pairs, perhaps after practicing with Learning to Look activities.

Background

Part of what makes the Internet so great is the quirky, passionate, real stuff that many people and organizations post there. You’ll find things on the Web that you’d never find on TV, the newspapers, or magazines. Subject Samplers tap into this vibrant vein in order to connect students emotionally to the chosen topic.

Specifically, these activities work like those boxes of chocolates: you open the box, look things over, think you see something you’d like, then poke your finger into it. If you like it, you eat it. If you don’t, you leave it pre-poked for someone else’s taste.

Tips for Using Subject Samplers

Specifically, in a Subject Sampler learners are presented with a smaller number (maybe half a dozen) of intriguing Web sites organized around a main topic. What makes this a particularly effective way to engage student buy-in is that first off, you’ve chosen Web sites themselves that offer something interesting to do, read, or see. Second, students are asked to respond to the Web-based activities from a personal perspective. Rather than uncover hard knowledge (as they do in a Knowledge Hunt), students are asked about their perspectives on topics, comparisons to experiences they have had, personal interpretations of artworks or data, etc. Thus, more important than the right answer is that students are invited to join the community of learners surrounding the topic, for students to see that their views are valued in this context.

Example Subject Sampler - Exploring MyPlace Issues

This passage is taken from the article  on the six Web-and-Flow Activity Formats.