Projects for the Advanced - Making a Low Prep Project with High Impact on Learning

We know, in this day and age, students are struggling more and more with the issue of presenting in class. Although they present to their friends and strangers constantly on platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, and TikTok, asking them to do a presentation in class is like pulling teeth.

This is the same for any age level, from middle to advanced high school. Anxiety for real-life presenting is a real issue that teachers should not shy away from. In this post, I will provide you with a quick prep project that can be used at ANY grade level (middle to AP) that you can set up this year and have a high yield on learning.

TOPICAL TUESDAY!

I have done this project from 7th grade to general biology to AP biology and have had many results that are always pleasing to experience. Here's how to set it up:

1. Weeks 1-2: You have the students play rock-paper-scissors or your favorite ice-breaker game to get in order from winner to loser (or do a random draw!)

2. Have students pick a Tuesday in the year (I usually give them a list), and that is THEIR TUESDAY to present.

   1. Some pick one at the beginning of the year in September; others wait till May!

3. Once presentation dates have been picked, it's time to explain the project, Topical Tuesday.

   1. On the Tuesday they choose, they will present an article they have chosen to read about a subject they are interested in. There are a few rules to this:

      1. The article's subject has to be related to something we are/will be discussing in class.

      2. It has to be a reliable article from a trustworthy source (make a list or give some options as to where to find these articles)

   2. After creating their presentation, they must complete the self-reflection piece of the rubric to determine what they feel they did well or did not do well (it also helps them identify anything they might have missed).

4. Then it's time to present! On their chosen Tuesday, we take 10-15 minutes for students to present their topic to the class. The range of issues that they have chosen is impressive!

After the schedule is set and the rubric is passed out, you only have to send out little reminders of "who's next"! It's the student's responsibility to complete the project on their own time and to come prepared!

So, how do you modify it to best fit your grade level?

Middle School (and Lower)	High School (Including AP)
Consider a pre-activity to go over types of articles (secondary/primary).	Provide them with an example of a primary, science-researched article.
Provide a book of already approved articles that you have found for them to present.	Give them exposure to search engines such as Google Scholar (how to find the "free" stuff)
Allow students to use reliable secondary articles (e.g., ScienceDaily).	Make them use primary articles with an abstract, introduction, results & conclusion section. Implement data from the article.
Instead of an interactive piece to the presentation, have them bring something in (show & tell) related to the article.	Have them create an interactive piece for their presentation. Something related to their article that the audience could participate in. (Not a Quiz!)

The sky is the limit here, and you can make it whatever you want! So go nuts! Below is the rubric and a couple of examples of presentations from previous students ranging from middle school to AP Biology!

Example Presentation 1 - Middle School

Example Presentation 2 - AP Biology

Example Presentation 3 - AP Biology

Rubric for Topical Tuesday (Make a Copy)

Thanks for joining me today, and happy teaching!