White board method of working to describe honey bee anatomy
This teaching technique is used by Sr. Catherine to explain
the digestive and respiratory systems and has much to recommend it. At
first sight it looks a little old fashioned, but there are some subtle
reasons why it is very good for its purpose and could be adapted to
descriptions of honey bee dissection techniques and other lecturing.
The drawing of the internal organs takes time and by the
very nature of drawing, the picture 'develops' in front of the
children holding their interest whilst conversation or commentary can
be provided as the drawing is going on. There is a trend to use
overhead films with multiple fold in accessory panes and also a trend
to use 'Power Point' style of presentation. The slickness and ease of
presentation of these techniques reduces the teacher/ pupil
interchange. I firmly believe that this slightly slower technique will
lead to a greater retention of the knowledge imparted. Thus making
very good use of the additional time.
The outline above can be 'saved as' a .gif or .bmp image and
printed on transparency film or a 35 mm slide can be made.
Whatever method of projection is used you should project the image
on to a white board that is rigidly mounted on the wall. Arrange to
stand to one side while drawing the internal organs, so as to obstruct
the image as little as possible.
