Attention to Detail

I have a new favorite class activity - one that focuses on technical writing and attention to detail. These potentially boring concepts turned into something fun and insightful.

Students were placed into collaborative groups and asked to create a drawing using ten line segments and three colors. They were then issued the challenge of writing directions for how to recreate their drawing. Their directions were given to a different group to try to duplicate the drawing based solely off of their directions.

The groups of students produced a variety of drawings. Some consisted of random lines while others connected their lines to create pictures.

Reflection was an important part of this assignment. After a set of directions was used to try to duplicate the drawing, the original drawing and the duplicated drawing were returned to the original group. They were asked to reflect on what went well with their directions and what needed improvement.

Students became very aware of the assumptions they made when writing their directions. Many left out details such as how to orient the paper, where to start on the paper, how long lines should be, and what color the lines should be.

My students loved this assignment! The next day, when I asked them to write a lab procedure, I was thrilled with the level of detail they produced!

What has worked well in your classroom? Please share your activities in the comments section.