Carousel Brainstorm

From: Carousel…as in a merry-go-round amusement park ride and Brainstorm as in generating a large number of ideas. A Carousel Brainstorm, which can be used in any content area and is a quick, high-energy and engaging way to gather large amounts of class data through collaborative inquiry. Because the process is somewhat anonymous, even the most reluctant learners are motivated to participate.

The desired outcome of a Carousel Brainstorm is a thorough consideration of the conceptual elements and major ideas of a topic under investigation. This classroom activity is an especially powerful whole class pre-assessment that reveals students’ prior understanding and/or personal beliefs about multiple aspects a single topic.

Implementation

1. Identify the learning expectations targeted by this Carousel Brainstorm.

2. Post 5-6 sheets of chart paper containing statements, images, or issues for student consideration are posted at strategic locations around the classroom.

3. Assign roles to each member of the group:

· The Reader reviews the statement and checks for understanding.

· The Idea Checker reviews information posted by the earlier groups and keeps track to be sure that ideas are not repeated.

· The Recorder writes information on the sticky notes, one sticky note per thought or idea. Generally, short phrases or sentences work best.

· The Presenter summarizes the whole class data.

4. The teacher’s primary role during a Carousel Brainstorm is to manage the movement of students through the stations and to lead the discussion after the lesson is completed.

Classroom Management

Generate Ideas

1. Groups of students initially brainstorm at their “home” stations using Post-its™ to record responses.

• To encourage creative and open thinking, all ideas should be considered without evaluating their validity or importance.
• Ideas already posted are not repeated.

2. At the teachers command, small groups rotate in a clockwise pattern to the next position where they add new comments to what has previously recorded by earlier groups. As thoughts and ideas emerge, the lists at each station grow.

Analyzing Data and Present the Findings

1. After groups rotate through all of the stations, the Carousel stops and teams return to their original position to summarize the whole class’ data on the chart paper.

2. Each group’s Presenter describes the findings to the larger group.

Synthesize and Debrief - the teacher:

1. Takes notes during student presentations to find connections among their key findings.
2. Leads the class discussion and helps the large group to draw conclusions.
3. Have students complete some type of formative assessment to determine what they are taking away from this lesson.
4. Offers final observations about the content focus and the process of collaborative inquiry through a Carousel Brainstorm.