Teaching Science With Lynda: Trioramas for Social Studies and Science

I love teaching science and social studies! My two favorite subjects. I think it is an interesting and fun subject! I do hear from many of my pre-service teachers that they previously believed that social studies was usually boring and dry. It is my great pleasure to show them that there are many ways to engage students in the learning process.
The key to engaging students in a content heavy subject like social studies is to have different ways to provide input and different ways to provide output.

Today I am going to talk about one strategy for output. I call this a triarama. The triarama is named not for having three sections, but for the basic building block being a triangle. The triarama can be used to convey any topic in social studies or science. It makes a nice little min report. I like to put students into groups of four and have them each do a section. Example: The Four Seasons with each student providing information on one of the seasons.

I start with a square. Then I cut the square from one corner to the center. Fold as in the photo. This is one of four sections of the triarama.

Have students decorate and add words or phrases to convey their understanding. The four sections are then put together. Students can give an oral presentation about their understanding.

These examples are on the topic of events leading up to The American Revolution.