Case Study: The Smartest Person in the Room is the Room

Learning Together, Out Loud: Using Wipebooks in Professional Learning and Beyond

By Eric Rhoades, Co-Founder and Lead Science Consultant, CTLG Consulting

Teachers collaborating in small groups on Wipebook VNPS during a CTLG science PD session

Some of my favourite moments in a workshop happen when a room full of teachers stops talking about student-centred learning and starts living it. More often than not, there’s a Wipebook in the middle of the table when it happens.

At CTLG Consulting, we use reusable Wipebook flipcharts in our professional learning sessions for a simple reason: the best way for educators to understand how students communicate and collaborate is to do it themselves. When teachers experience an instructional task the way their students will, they leave knowing what it takes to make it work in their own classrooms.

Why use reusable dry-erase surfaces in educator PD?

Using non-permanent, shared whiteboards during professional development shifts adult learning from passive compliance to active inquiry. It allows participants to co-construct initial models, revise hypotheses without fear of failure, and directly experience the student-centered discourse routines they are expected to implement.

What Does Collaborative Sensemaking Look Like in a Workshop?

A session might open with an anchoring phenomenon—such as why an aluminum soda can collapses when rapidly cooled. Rather than discussing instructional strategies theoretically, table teams grab a Wipebook and follow a structured sensemaking protocol:

Sketch an initial model: Teams sketch what they think is happening at the particulate level, using labels, arrows, and symbols to represent unseen forces.
Collaborative dialogue: Participants talk it through, building on each other's ideas, probing for reasoning, and actively erasing and revising as new evidence comes in.
Gallery walk & peer feedback: Educators rotate through the room, evaluating other teams' models and leaving constructive questions and suggestions.
Synthesis & reflection: Teams return to their boards and share how their thinking shifted, identifying the exact evidence that triggered their revisions.

Then we step back from the science content and examine the pedagogy:

What did that feel like as a learner? What made it easy to speak up? What environmental conditions would your students need to do the same thing?

Why Reusable Wipebooks Transform Professional Development

Task work and initial sketches on a Wipebook reusable flipchart

Integrating reusable, erasable workspaces breaks down traditional classroom friction points through four distinct dynamics:

Thinking becomes visible: Everyone can see the group's collective ideas in real time, shifting the focus away from individual performance and onto shared reasoning.
Revision feels natural and low-risk: A quick swipe of an eraser makes changing your mind feel like a normal part of the process, completely removing the stigma of a "wrong" first draft.
Every voice lands on the page: A central, shared surface creates an open invitation for all team members, ensuring quieter participants contribute equally.
Low stakes lead to high participation: Because the work surface is non-permanent, educators are comfortable floating rough drafts and evolving theories without hesitation.

That is the exact culture we want in student classrooms. When teachers experience this firsthand, they see how a simple vertical or horizontal erasable tool turns a standard prompt into authentic collaboration and sensemaking. As we like to say, the smartest person in the room is the room.

From the PD Workshop to the K–12 Classroom

alt="Small group of teachers in front of a Wipebook showing their collaborative problem-solving

The instructional routines modelled in adult professional learning transfer seamlessly to everyday classroom practice. Teachers leave our sessions with concrete moves they can facilitate the very next day:

Launching anchoring phenomena with rough-draft sketches.
Establishing small-group talk around a single shared dry-erase surface.
Structuring low-stakes peer feedback routines.
Facilitating whole-class consensus discussions based on visible group work.

The instructional tool stays the same; only the learners change.

Try It in Your Next Lesson or Meeting

Teachers standing in visibly random small groups solving science problems on Wipebook

Whether you lead professional learning or teach a room full of students, pick a compelling question or scientific phenomenon, hand out Wipebooks, and ask for a first draft of thinking. Give people time to talk, revise, and learn from one another. You’ll watch reasoning take shape right in front of you—and you’ll hear it, too.

When we give every learner—adult or student—a place to think out loud, we #ChangeTheStory about who belongs in science. Because #EveryoneIsASciencePerson.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How do Wipebook support Building Thinking Classrooms (BTC) and active inquiry?

Wipebook flipcharts provide portable, vertical, and horizontal non-permanent surfaces (VNPS). By removing the permanence of chart paper, learners feel secure sharing incomplete ideas, erasing misconceptions rapidly, and collaborating without fear of judgment.

Can these strategies be used outside of science instruction?

Yes. While this protocol uses a science phenomenon, the cycle of rough-draft modelling, collaborative iteration, and gallery-walk feedback works identically for mathematical problem-solving, document-based history analysis, and reading comprehension.

About the Author

Eric Rhoades is co-founder and lead science consultant at CTLG Consulting, partnering with K–12 schools and districts on professional learning, instructional coaching, and curriculum development. His guiding belief: everyone is a science person.

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