Unexpected answers and lessons from improv in teaching

When asking a leading question while teaching any subject, I find myself expecting a certain answer, be it the correct one, or some other commonly held or intuitive answer that follows the bounds of logic and physics. These include theories such as the role of increased air resistance in explaining differing speeds with the rotational motion cart, or the idea that a longer car will beat a shorter car at BiTiRi due to simple geometry. However, I should be prepared for unexpected answers. Lessons learned from improv help in adjusting to such answers.

The "yes, and..." approach from improv allows the teacher to accept what the learner has come up with and build towards understanding the process, rather than shutting down their "offer" and creating a new narrative. The latter action does not serve to encourage the learner to trust their own ability to learn - rather, it discourages them from taking risks or believing they can arrive at the correct answer, even if their first guess was far from the mark. The conditions of positivity and acceptance inherent to improv are the same crucial aspects that encourage learners to pursue their thought process beyond that first guess, and feel that they have a role equal to or greater than the teacher in their learning.

I had an interaction last week with an elementary-school aged boy at Build it Test it Race it, and I asked him why he thought the longer car was beating shorter cars. Rather than offering that car's weight or length helped, he thought for a moment, then suggested that the flexing between the car's multiple segments would help increase its speed. This answer was novel and surprising, and instead of leading to a typical conversation about the weight of the car and gravity, we instead talked about the curvature of the track, and how that might affect the car's speed. Unfortunately, I was unable to get as far as having him test his flexure hypothesis with a more loosely-built car versus his original model. However, this interaction left him curious and confident in his ability to investigate the science and process at hand, whereas a negative answer on my part may have had a discouraging effect.

-Sam Shaw