“Tell us something we don’t know!”: A quiz to develop deeper understanding

Overview For examination subjects, content is king. Without a secure bedrock of factual knowledge, analysis cannot be attempted and evaluation and [...]

9th December 2016

25 of my favourite props for the history classroom!

Overview Artefacts, props and gadgets can serve as a great ‘hook’ into lessons. Over the years I have built up quite a collection in my own [...]

7th December 2016

Convert statistics into infographics

Overview Including hard data to back up arguments is an important skill for students to develop. Moreover, statistics are sometimes difficult to absorb [...]

30th November 2016

What happened to these people before and after our period of study?

Overview In subjects that require students to consider the motives, actions and consequences of key individuals, it is all too easy to simply consider them [...]

23rd November 2016

‘In the news…!’ subject display feature using Google Alerts/News

Overview In order to reinforce the relevance of your classroom subject, and to encourage students to engage with current affairs, have a regular “In the [...]

16th November 2016

Using Emojis to develop vocabulary and source analysis skills

Overview Emoji icons are handy little images to represent a particular feeling or concept in visual form that can often be seen in text messages, tweets [...]

15th November 2016

Use an “Image Jigsaw” to arrange class groups

Overview Instead of dividing the class into groups using the Random Name Picker or some other method, take a series of interesting images relating to the [...]

14th November 2016

Design a theme park based around the study topic

Overview After hearing of a genuine plan to build a theme park centered around the Emperor Napoleon and the story of Freedom Land theme park in the USA, I [...]

14th November 2016

Use an ‘Image Flash’ to engage students with pictorial sources

Overview Rather than present students with an image on the screen and immediately start discussing what they can see and what it might mean, provide them [...]

14th November 2016

Add a ‘how certain are you?’ element to spice up factual tests

Overview To spice up factual tests, require students not merely to provide an answer, but to choose how many points to play for to reflect their [...]

16th October 2016

Design a logo reflecting the aims & methods of individuals or organisations

Overview After studying individuals, parties or organisations, challenge students to design a logo which summarises their essential aims, methods, [...]

11th October 2016

Re-enact a conference

Overview When studying how successfully different countries achieved their objectives in an international conference, conduct a simple re-enactment where [...]

9th October 2016

Protest placards: design, anticipate, react

Overview When studying an issue, event or personality which is open to different interpretations, get students to design a placard summarising their [...]

1st October 2016

“Guess the Statistics” to encourage deduction and explanation

30th September 2016

Using limericks as a revision tool

Overview As part of a ‘choose your own homework‘ menu, give students the option to produce a set of limericks to help them memorise some key [...]

24th September 2016

Using “Knowledge Cubes” for hands-on discussions

Overview When students conduct research on key individuals, get them to write up their findings on a cardboard cube, with each of the six faces covering a [...]

24th September 2016

From “takeaway homework” to “takeaway mark scheme”

The decision to allow students to choose their own homework (variously called the ‘Unhomework’ and the ‘Takeaway homework’ [...]

21st September 2016

Using counterfactuals to prioritise the importance of key factors

Overview To help students decide how important a factor was in causing a particular event, ask them to consider whether events would have turned out [...]

10th August 2016

Designing a school mission statement: a whole-school event

Developing a true sense of community is a crucial yet challenging task for any school. At my school, we gave serious thought about the best way to produce [...]

28th July 2016

Countdown timer with sound effects: run several in sequence or even simultaneously

Overview I have coded an online countdown timer so that students can clearly see how much time they have left to complete an activity. Unlike other online [...]

17th July 2016

Online citation generator for student projects

Overview Most online citation generators need the students to do most of the hard work – and only look for books. So I coded this online citation [...]

17th July 2016

Random Name Picker to create student groups / choose speakers

Overview When arranging groups for team tasks, remove any arguments about who should belong in each group by using the Random Name Pickers at ClassTools: [...]

17th July 2016

Design a memorial to consolidate knowledge and understanding

Overview At the end of a study project, challenge students to design a memorial to commemorate the event, theme, topic or individual. Example I use this [...]

17th July 2016

Arcade Game Generator: Create several revision quizzes with one set of questions

Overview The ClassTools Arcade Game Generator allows you to submit one set of questions and answers and then converts these into half a dozen revision [...]

17th July 2016

Using the “Socratic Seminar” to improve classroom discussion

Overview Classroom “discussions” can easily end up as “teacher-talk” with occasional student input. The “Socratic [...]

23rd June 2016