25
2014
Journal Club Presentations
An article by Janice Airhart
Now that I’m teaching science, instead of practicing it, I find that I still enjoy hearing about science news through the eyes of my students. Instead of once a week, I try to schedule journal club presentations once a month during class. Students are expected to find an article of interest to them in one of the science magazines or journals I subscribe to and store on one of our class bookshelves. After an article is selected, the student reads and summarizes it on a written report form. They also extend their reflection over the topic by composing two questions they have about the topic that were not answered in the article. The next day, students present their articles and there is a brief class discussion about the topic they have reported on. I’m always curious about their reasons for choosing what they do and try to relate the topic to my students’ lives.
Now that we’re a one-to-one school, I also allow students to research a topic of their choice online and to report on what they’ve chosen after I approve the source and topic. But most students still elect the old-fashioned route and browse the Discover, Science News, and Current Science issues from the bookshelf.
There are several pluses to this activity:
- It engages students by allowing them to choose topics of interest to them
- It develops reading, summarizing, and presentation skills—all important Common Core standards
- It requires little to no planning on my part
- Best of all, it allows me to keep current on science news
