Lightboarding in Science Education

Student engagement is fundamental to student learning. In my previous Physics, AP Physics and PLtW Engineering courses at BHS, I often struggled to engage certain students that had trouble with difficult content. I began researching ways to better engage my students. I eventually stumbled upon the idea of lightboarding. Lightboarding is relatively new to education and is slow to adopt as it requires studio equipment, a DSLR camera and a lightboard which sells for between $2000 and $8000. Purchasing a lightboard was out of the question so I found some DIY guides on how to build one but ultimately designed my own and constructed it last winter. Then the pandemic struck and we were not able to utilize it. With the support from our media department, we were able to set up the studio in the back of my classroom and recorded my first lightboard lesson.

A lightboard is essentially a transparent whiteboard designed to create engaging instructional videos. Inside the frame, the lightboard holds a string of LEDs that shine the long way through the glass.  The light becomes trapped, only to escape when the glass is written on with special window markers. A camera with adjustable settings is required to make the smudges and scratches on the glass to disappear, ultimately giving a "writing on thin air feel". The studio lights allow for the instructor to stand out while the vibrant colors pop amongst the black backdrop. Being able to write backwards is not essential as a simple click of a button in video editing software will flip the image.

Lightboard videos provide an alternate means for video instruction as opposed to whiteboards or Khan Academy style videos while increasing student engagement.