Microteaching: Objects and Artefacts

For last Monday, 13th July 2020, each of us had to prepare an 8 minutes long microteaching session featuring an object-based learning activity.

To prepare for this I read this text by Kirsten Hardie, which had some great ideas in it: https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/system/files/kirsten_hardie.pdf

However I had to think of a way how to adapt an object-based learning activity for the online environment, which is a bit of a challenge. I started thinking about what I would like to target and came up with this list:

Observational skills, Design awareness, Inspiration.

From these key terms I started to put together the learning objectives:

• Apply your Imagination
• Move beyond the predictable
• Invent or reinvent the purpose of an object by forming associations and connecting thoughts within the group

I presented the group with an object and the overarching question: “Can an object’s function be assessed by its shape and by forming associations and thought chains as a group?”

At first I showed the object from all sides, without giving away its function:

Then I demonstrated two potential functions which I had invented:

Then I got the group to enter the interactive part of the learning activity and without too much hesitation in an energetic and dynamic fashion shout out key-terms and ideas about potential functions. This worked quite well. After a little bit of a slow start people seemed to warm up and come up with a lot of fun ideas. “Door stopper” and “Decorative nipple fashion item” were some of my favourites.

At the end of the session I then revealed the actual function the object had been purchased for:

Overall I really enjoyed the session. There was a drawback though: My internet connection wasn’t performing very well that day, which meant my video stream was frequently interrupted. Learning point: I should have prepared photos and slides as a backup for this case. However one person said the fact that my video stream was breaking off added to the suspense and made him more curious. Other positive feedback was that the session was playful and fun and that it is really refreshing to see someone handling a real object instead of just looking at slides, text and static image.