Mind-Streaming

Mind-streaming

Purpose: This strategy is used to elicit prior knowledge and give students a format to share with others what they already know about the content.

Description: Mind-streaming gives students the opportunity to talk to a peer about everything they may know about a given topic. Because students are sharing with each other, this collaborative effort allows teachers to validate what information students already know.

Procedure: 1. Before introducing a new lesson, unit, or concept, ask students to form pairs. 2. The teacher then indicates the topic or concept to be studied. 3. One student will first be the listener, and the other will be the speaker. For one minute, the speaker should talk non-stop about anything he/she knows related to the topic while the listener only listens and give support with nods. The speaker says what ever comes to mind, repeating information if necessary in order to keep speaking. 4. Students should reverse roles for the second minute. 5. Once both partners have had an opportunity to talk for one minute on the topic, partners will be encouraged to share their comments while the teacher or a selected student records information on the chalkboard/chart paper.