When looking for ways to increase student understanding of vocabulary terms, concepts, and content, I was introduced to Flashcard Factory. I was hesitant to use it at first, but after the first time using it, students kept asking when we were going to use it again. The student interest and their improved understanding of concepts and terms, showed that this tool is very worthwhile.
What is it?
Flashcard Factory is an option inside of PearDeck. Students are split into groups of two, with each group being on either “Day Shift” or “Night Shift.” They are given a vocabulary term at random and tasked with one student to write an example or the definition and the other to draw an example. They will continue to get more words/phrases until their “work shift” is over. Once the shift is over, the flash cards can be displayed to garner student discourse as they vote whether the flash card is a good example/definition/drawing of the word or concept.
How do I use Flashcard Factory?
I have used this at the beginning of a chapter to start introducing the vocabulary terms and also at the end of a chapter as a review. You can decide if you want to give the definition or not. When using this at the beginning of a chapter, I have given the definitions, but not given the definitions when used as review. The teacher will need to pre-load the word bank and decide if you want to include definitions or not.
Benefits of Flashcard Factory:
There is high interest, a lot of collaboration, and an increase in student discourse as we vote on the finished cards. When the card set is done, you have the option to send the set to Google Classroom and also to Quizlet for more uses there.
Check out these Slides for more information!
Stay Techie,
Josh Houtchens
Science Teacher, Blaker Kinser Junior High
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