Transforming knowledge into creative outcomes

Design personalised number plates as a revision exercise

Overview As a revision exercise, get students to design personalised number plates for historical characters they have studied. Accompany each one with a [...]

30th July 2018

Using a “TimeWipe” exercise to avoid anachronism and encourage empathy

Overview To avoid anachronism and to help students more deeply understand a particular time and place, challenge them to list the key features of the [...]

19th May 2018

Write a sports commentary to highlight comparisons and contrasts!

Overview To help students consolidate their understanding of the similarities and differences between key groups (such as parties, countries, ideologies or [...]

7th May 2018

Using “Rhyming Timelines” for revision

Overview At the end of a unit of study, divide a list of key words, terms, dates or invididuals among the class. Challenge each student to create a rhyming [...]

22nd January 2018

“Rice above the statistics”: using grains of rice for data visualisation

20th January 2018

“The Big Picture”: convert a new topic into pictures, then the pictures into galleries

Overview When beginning a new topic, it is tempting to simply plunge into providing students with a question for investigation and then focusing on the [...]

11th December 2017

Using “Speed Dating” to share facts and opinions in the classroom

Overview The speed-dating format is designed to help students spot comparisons and contrasts between different ideas, answers or categories of information. [...]

8th November 2017

Using hand gestures to highlight changing relations between key groups

19th October 2017

The story of this topic – in 50 objects!

9th October 2017

Collate “Historical Photobombs” into a short story to consolidate the ‘Big Picture’

8th October 2017

Making “Top Trumps” work in the classroom: use WORDS, not RATINGS

Overview Because “Top Trumps” is a simply game format to understand and play, this does not necessarily translate into an educationally [...]

8th October 2017

Design “Tubular Timeline Towers” for chronological understanding

Overview As a ‘choose your own homework‘ option, suggest to students that they consolidate their chronological understanding by constructing a [...]

23rd February 2017

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

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

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

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

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

Make a ‘TripAdvisor’ graphic to revise impact in various places

Overview: With full credit to Kate 🙂 To revise the impact of a particular period or individual upon particular places over time, students could produce [...]

26th December 2015

“Design a DVD Inlay”

29th November 2015

Create a ClickBait Headline as a starter/plenary/revision exercise

27th July 2015

Miming, Freeze-Framing, Body Sculptures

With younger students especially, thinking about how to represent what has been studied can be a useful learning experience. The following techniques are [...]

8th July 2015

Make ‘Prejudice Maps’ to chart the cartography of ignorance!

Overview Get students thinking about the attitudes of people towards their world by constructing an ‘Atlas of Prejudice‘ as per the wonderful [...]

26th June 2015

Create a “Bio-Poem” to capture the essence of the study topic

A “Biopoem” can be used to help students to focus on the essential characteristics of something – for example, a fictional or literary [...]

8th June 2015