WCC Teaching Materials Collection

Mystery Boxes: Exploring the Process of Science
This page is authored by Nathan Rice, Whatcom Community College, based on an original activity by Kaatje Kraft, Whatcom Community College. ,
In this activity, students will work in groups to follow the steps of the scientific method to investigate the unknown contents and internal structure of sealed boxes. They will generate questions and hypotheses and then test those hypotheses using their senses and a few tools. Then they will share their conclusions with the class and reevaluate their conclusions after peer review.

Wax Paper Folding - Discovering the Conic Sections
Leslie Glen, Pierce College at Fort Steilacoom
Students fold "patty paper" to create the conic sections, and in the process, discover their properties.

Investigating Right Triangle Trigonometry
Lee Singleton, Whatcom Community College
Students use a hands-on approach to investigate right triangle trigonometry definitions. Students also solve right triangles given an angle and a side.

Stoichiometry: An inquiry-based general chemistry activity
Paul Frazey, Whatcom Community College
This in an inquiry-based activity on stoichiometry for college-level general chemistry. It use the POGIL approach for collaborative group work.

Combination Jigsaw and Gallery Walk activity
Tommaso Vannelli, Pierce College at Fort Steilacoom
A combination Jigsaw and Gallery Walk activity exploring the five periodic trends typically discussed in Genenral Chemistry texts (atomic and ionic radii, ionization energies, electron affinity, and electronegativity). this activity spans two class periods and employs an on-line (Canvas) discussion prior to class for sharing research results within expert groups.

Properties of Real Numbers in-class group activity
Mei Luu
Real Numbers properties worksheet

Ecology Modules
John Rousseau, Pierce College at Fort Steilacoom
The ecology section of a year-long introductory biology course was reworked from a lecture style format to a small-group activity format that involved both in-class and field activities.

Student Directed Review
kimberly reeves, Pierce College at Fort Steilacoom
Incorporation of a student generated whiteboard review session, whereby groups created critical thinking questions for the other peer groups in the class to answer, generated an increase in exam average by 10.25 points.

Chemistry and Cell Review for Microbiology
Debbie Lancaster, Pierce College at Fort Steilacoom
Basic Chemistry and Cell Biology are two subjects that are reviewed in Introduction to Microbiology. These two activities are both designed to have the students actively participate in the review processes and to be able to relate the information to a new area of study, microbiology.

3 Part Calendar Assignment for Introductory Computer Science Courses - Building a meaningful, useful, long term project
Ryan Parsons, Whatcom Community College in collaboration with Brody Coleman, Whatcom Community College ,
This 3 part assignment is designed to be worked on over the entire quarter for an introductory computer science course. The end result is to create a calendar program that has a visual display and several different functionalities, allowing the students to demonstrate many core programming skills while taking ownership of their own large project.