Call it final by flash mob.
Wootton High School sociology teacher Amy Buckingham wanted to find a creative way to test her students’ knowledge. Instead of a final exam of essays and multiple choice questions, she gave the kids three options. Before she could run down the whole list, the students chose to show off what they learned about human behavior by executing a flash mob.
Fifty-five students from the Rockville, Md., school gathered just before the lunch hour Wednesday at Rio Washingtonian shopping center in Gaithersburg.
“We’d, each day, take a little time to choreograph and then the next day, we go in and teach it to the class,” said student choreographer Samantha Poto.
Flo Rida’s “This Club Can’t Handle Me” began blaring from a speaker and lead dancer Mario Aguilar got ready. People shopping and enjoying lunch noticed the students, but didn’t think much of it. That was until Aguople slid to the center of the courtyard, followed by his classmates.
Buckingham said the flash mob final exam pushed the students to connect their song choices, choreography and costumes to their course material. The students had to explain their sociological relevance before they were approved.
Sociology is the study of human behavior and how people influence each other. The Wootton students not only had to organize to perform, they had to observe their audience while they did it.
“I saw it from all the way over there,” said Crystal St. Louis, who was out with her baby and toddler. “I was coming from the park. It was really good. I liked it. I loved it.”
The last element of the final exam is a journal entry detailing what they observed about their audience.
