Games and quick start and finish activities to enhance science learning

Research has shown that pupils learn more at the beginning and end of a learning experience than they do in the middle. The beginning is the time when potential for learning is at its greatest and creating a high level of anticipation makes the learner more receptive. This feeling of anticipation is significantly accentuated by the novelty value generated when the opening activity is different and largely unexpected. Teachers who recognise and want to exploit this optimum time for learning in their lessons will find this resource an invaluable source of ideas for putting theory into action.

This guide is to help busy teachers plan for learning quickly and effectively, especially in the early part of the lesson. Although many of the ideas are not new or original, they have been arranged in a way that can be accessed easily.

Introduction

Activities for the beginning of lessons should:

be quick be difficult to opt out of set objectives for pupils review previous learning provide assessment opportunities for the teacher

Key

A = Arrival activity – intended for use as pupils arrive to get them interested, involved…and thinking!

S = Starter activities – may:o provide an introduction to the content of the lessono check pupils’ understanding/misconceptionso help to find out prior learning

P = Plenary activity – may:o support assessment for learningo summarise learningo link to new learningo help pupils understand how they learn (as well as what they learn).

Key messages

Section 1 Generic ideas

AP ANSWERS

Ask pupils to write a question, given the answer. Makes pupils demonstrate understanding.

The answer is – now what is the question?The teacher holds up a card with a simple answer on it. Pupils are asked to provide the question to go with the answer.

This can be done in a quick fire way but is most effective when pupils have some thinking time. Put up five answers and ask pupils in pairs to craft an answer to one or more questions in 3-5 minutes.

Comparing questions can be interesting because there can be several ‘correct’ questions to any answer. You can use examples from test and examination questions.

P S

BLANK AXES

Provide laminated blank axes. Ask pupils to sketch the graph they would expect for a particular story eg distance-time graphs. Supports interpretation of graphs (Sc1).

P ARTICULATE

Have a set of diagrams or picture which relate to images from the current topic. Working in groups of three, one pupil has to describe the picture to a second without using the name. The third pupil acts as judge. Useful for synthesising knowledge.

A ANAGRAMS

Write anagrams of key words on the board for children to unscramble.

BP S

BINGO

Put 20 words of the board – children choose 9 words to record – and play bingo.

BACK to BACK

Pupils work in pairs sitting back to back. One pupil is given a diagram and has to describe this diagram to the other pupil. The pupil listening needs to draw what they hear described. Encourages the use of scientific language.

CA P S

CONCEPT CARTOONS

Concept cartoons as detailed by Naylor and Keogh are an excellent way to start a lesson. They nearly all provide a lead into practical work and investigations. Lots of ideas for use are given in Naylor and Keogh’s Concept Cartoons book.

Concept cartoons target key misconceptions and stimulate pupil discussion.

Pupils can make their own cartoons.Key misconceptions are discussed in ‘Making Sense of Secondary Science’ by Driver et al.

S CLASSIFYING

Could be done with cards – or just use a list of words. Eg sort into: solid/liquid/gas dead/alive cells/no cells.

Use to help pupils to synthesise knowledge and apply (eg is shaving foam S, L or G?).

P S

CONCEPT MAP

Provide words to do with a topic or ask pupils to generate their own. Join words together and link with a connecting phrase. This can be used throughout a topic to assess prior learning – then add to it throughout the topic. Pupils should be encouraged to feel able to change their minds.

P CARDS/PADDLE

Pupils hold up traffic light coloured cards to show understanding.

A S

CARD SORT

Provide pupils with cards with the key words on them. Pupils sort these into familiar and unfamiliar.

C (continued)A CROSSWORDS

Use key words to make small crosswords with clues.

S P

CONTINUUM

Set up a continuum. Use this to place opinions of the group eg ethics of over fishing, sufficiency of evidence in an investigation.

Line of least resistancePupils position themselves along a line across the room. They may be asked to justify their place.

Chat splitWhere a dichotomy of opinion exists in the class, split into groups of like mind and produce three bullet points to justify the opinion.

Mexican wavePupils line up at random points along the line. Then, by discussion with their neighbours only, they decide if they should swap places to the right or left.

VelcroUse a velcro strip as the continuum and laminated reusable cards to write names to give position on the velcro.

Velcro SequencingPupils are given cards with part of a sequence eg experimental procedure, menstrual cycle etc and have to put them in the correct place on the velcro strip.

P CONSEQUENCES

Ask pupils to think of consequences, implications, parallel issues or exceptions.

S P A

CLOZE (supports least able)

A paragraph with words left out. Try making the missing words connectives sometimes not always science words. Use with a drawing to support visual clues.

DS P A

DEFINITIONS

Match key words to definitions – could use cards or words and definitions on the board.

S P A

DEVISING QUESTIONS (where literacy is a strength)

Pupils are asked to construct questions on important ideas and concepts. Questions then given to pupil in ‘hot seat’ to answer.

S P A

DIAGRAM COMPLETION AND LABELLING

Pupil given a piece of text and asked to label a diagram from the information given.

ES P A

EDITING

Text editing provides effective way of helping pupils to interact with text.

Provide a section of text with errors and ask pupils to suggest changes. This can be done as an individual, group or whole class activity.

The work of past pupils such as test papers, practical write-ups and homework makes ideal material for editing.

Editing can be done effectively using ICT. For example the use of ‘track changes’ in Word.

Editing can be used as an effective way of reviewing past learning or setting leaning objectives.

S P A

EMPHASIS AND BULLET POINTING (where literacy is a strength)

Pupils read text and underline, bullet point or highlight words, data, phrases or paragraphs which are key concepts. They can be asked to use different colours to classify ideas.

FP S

FLOW CHARTS

Set up a flow chart with some boxes blank – fill in the missing words.

FLY SWAT

A pupil faces a wall on which are the answers to a range of questions. The answers are on sheets of A4 paper blu-tacked to the wall. The pupil has a fly swat and as the questions are read out they have to hit the right answer. The pupil is timed and other pupils try to beat the fastest time set.

Questions need to be short and answers need to be easy to read. The activity is quick and the value lies in repetition. Answers can stay in the same place or be moved around between attempts.

The activity can be made more challenging by adding more possible answers. It can be made more frenetic by using a bell and a hooter to indicate correct and incorrect answers!

GGIVING REASONS

Go round the class asking for a reason for a hypothetical situation.eg My circuit doesn’t work because…My organism isn’t alive because…I think my material is a liquid because…Useful for synthesising knowledge.

P GOLDEN RULES

Pupils devise golden rules/tips for others attempting the same task.

HS A P

HOT SEATING

A sequence of children (one at a time or in pairs) is brought to a focal point in the classroom and asked to respond to questions from the rest of the class.

Draws out the products of groupwork to create whole class awareness.

Also use to assess understanding of children hotseated.

I

JS P A

JIGSAWS

If you are starting a lesson with a worksheet or with instructions try cutting them up in a random way and asking the pupils to reassemble the pieces.

Make it relatively simple. The object is to engage the pupils in the task and get them to read the worksheet before they start work.

Don’t just use text. Re-assembling diagrams and drawings can make pupils study the work more effectively. The activity is more effective when done by pairs of pupils.

KS P

KEY WORD ACTIVITIES

Use to support knowledge, understanding and use key words in a topic or lesson and to reinforce meaning of new words.

LS P

LOOP GAMES (FOLLOW ME CARDS)

You need a set of cards with question on one side and the answer to another question on the back. Pupil reads the first question, the pupil with the corresponding answer reads it, and then reads their question and so on.

MS MINDSTORM

Ask pupils to generate words or phrases associated with a particular topic – it is the classification of the words (and explaining why) which often supports thinking.

P MAKING GENERALISATIONS

Pupils are asked to generalise/link to the big idea from the learning experience. This helps in reflecting on learning and to transfer leaning.

P MAKE AN ARGUMENT

Ask pupils to prove or disprove a statement, either orally or in writing eg “You cannot go on holiday without a force – prove it.”

N

P NAME GAME (more able where literacy is not a strength)

Give each pupil a card with a science concept or process word on it. Attach the word to the back of the person sitting in front of them. The pupil with the word on their back must deduce the word by asking questions that only require a yes/no answer.

O

PP POETRY IN MOTION

This activity supports pupils’ thinking; they need to condense their understanding into a five line poem of few words. Look for examples on the Science Year CD ROMs:

Line 1 the idea (1 word) – given by teacherLine 2 describe meaning of idea (2 words)Line 3 describe what idea does (3 words)Line 4 says what idea means to you (4 words)Line 5 says idea using another word

DISSOLVINGbreak apart

makes pieces smallersolid mixes with liquid

PHYSICAL

For starters and plenaries, have poems with some lines missing. Or give some with mistakes for pupils to spot.

P POSTERS

Pupils write up their finding on posters, which are then viewed/prioritised by others. Useful for synthesising knowledge and evaluating/reflecting on what has been learnt.

S A

PILES

Pupils have cards containing sentences about the topic. Working alone, pupils sort these into three piles:

Know Don’t know Not sure

In pairs, discuss each other’s know and don’t know piles. (See traffic lights.)

P (continued)P PLAYING CARDS

Need two packs of playing cards. Teacher turns over the top one and pupil with that one then asks pupils with that card a question. Teacher keeps shuffling pack so that a pupil may be asked a question more than once.

P PICTURE SEQUENCING

Put diagrams into the correct order to describe a process eg reproduction in flowering plants.

S P

PICTOGRAMS

Fun activity to help pupils with limited vocabularies to build language.

QP QUESTIONS

Front loading:Give pupils five questions at the start of the lesson that you will ask them at the end of the lesson. Ask them to develop their answers to the questions as they go through the lesson.

Pupils will gain most benefit if they can work with a friend on the answers.

Encourage pupils to use whiteboards, laminated cards or paper to craft their answers.

P QUESTIONS IN ROLE

Pupils prepare questions for an expert or an eyewitness eg a scientist from history. Pair of pupils take questions from the class.Gives an opportunity to draw out different perspectives on the same events – ideas and evidence.

Q (continued)

S P

IDEAS FOR QUIZZES

Use these as starters to check prior learning, or as plenaries to review progress. Use techniques to get all pupils thinking…

S P

QUESTION GENERATOR

Have ideas about a subject on a set of cards for each group. Pupils put them into three piles: those they can answer, those they can partly answer and those they cannot answer.

Get into groups and try to help each other out with red and amber.

Use information from traffic lights to pair up red and green children, while teacher helps amber.

RP RESPONSE GRIDS

An alternative to whiteboards, help all pupils to respond by making pre-prepared laminated response grids with answers eg Response grid could contain:

names of planets selection of key words numbers related to the topic.

RESPONSE CARDSA variation of true false cards is to provide pupils with response cards for particular topics. Pupils are asked questions and asked to hold up what they think is the best response card.

Examples of response cards might be:

C or I: Questions involving conductors and insulators.

S or L or G: Questions involving solids, liquids and gases. R (continued)

S P

REVIEW DIAGRAMS

Ask children to draw a diagram or picture and annotate it to show what they know about a particular topic. Could use at the beginning or end of a topic to assess and identify misconceptions eg draw what you think happens to your lunch inside your body.

SP SPIDER DIAGRAMS

Teacher or pupils use map to connect ideas and show how they interrelate. Helps pupils to see the big picture and to memorise.

P SHOW THE STORY

Groups of pupils are asked to act out a sequence of events with “voiceover” commentary eg how plants make food; how you make something move forward; how blood goes around the body. Makes pupils demonstrate understanding.

P S

SPOTLIGHT

A volunteer is asked five questions. The rest of the class mark down whether they agree or disagree with the answers so that the whole class is tested. Could use whiteboards or voting cards.

P A S

SEQUENCING CARDS (supports poor literacy skills)

Pupils work in groups. Each group has a set of cards. Sentences or pictures on each card make up a sequence of events. Each pupil is responsible for their own piece of information. They can only exchange their own piece of information by speaking and only one person in the group can write.

TA P S

TRUE? CARD SORT

Provide pupils with cars with statements written on them. Ask pupils to sort into piles of:

Never true/ always true/ sometimes true.

Use for assessment for learning – perhaps for prior understanding.

S P

TRUE/FALSE Provided the questions are relatively quick this is a low threat activity.

Provide pupils with true/false cards to respond to questions from the teacher or other pupils (could use traffic light cards for this).

S TABLEAU TASK

Pupils are shown a photograph and then given a set time to work out:

What lead up to the picture What is happening in the picture What will happen after the pictured eventeg scientists at work, scene from history.

S P

TRAFFIC LIGHTING

A self assessment system

Red – I know nothing about thisAmber – I know something about thisGreen – I know this already

Here are some uses and variations…

S TESTS

Ask pupils to mark the test questions with traffic light colours at the beginning of a topic. This will raise awareness of learning requirements.

T (continued)P THUMBOMETER

Use thumb up, down or wavering to show understanding.

S A

SCIENCE TABOO

Play in threes:

Player 1 has to give a definition of the word on the card to player 2 without using the list of taboo words. Player 3 has to spot if the taboo words are usedeg: Electricity Food, light, Sun, Change.

P THINKING SKILLS ACTIVITIES

This is a way of helping pupils to identify how they learned as well as what they learned (metacognition). This is about making thinking visible.

P THINKING WORDS

Pupils select a card(s) with thinking words and explain how this helped them to do the work.

U

VS A

VERBAL TENNIS

Choose something learnt last time and pupils play tennis using associated words applying correct tennis scoring. A point is lost if a player can’t think of an associated word, uses an incorrect word or repeats one used already. Can be done in threes with an umpire.

WP S

WHITEBOARDS

Pupils write answers on whiteboards and show – could be done in pairs.

S P

WRITE YOUR OWN QUESTIONS

Ask pupils to write their own questions on small pieces of card with answers on the back. Pupils swap cards with each other or the teacher who collects them and uses as a basis for a quiz at the end of the lesson, or the start of the next.

A P

WORDSEARCH

Put in more words than you have clues. Pupils score 1 point for correct answer and take away 1 point for an answer for which there is no clue.

S P

WASHING LINE

Pupils need a washing line, pegs and letter cards for each group. Give definitions of key words – pupils assemble the words on the washing line and press the squeaker when finished. Can be played with competing groups.

S P

WORDWALLS to progressive glossaries to mapping (supports poor literacy skills)

Involves the teacher in identifying the language to be developed in the topic and displaying these words on the wall in lower case. These words are best revealed in the sequence that the pupils will meet the words so progressive glossary is built but not by alphabet.

S PA

WORD DOMINOES (supports poor literacy skills)

Dominoes with single words on left and definitions on right side of domino. Pupil links word with definition. This is verified by groups comparing solutions.

W (continued)S P

WORD LOOPS (supports pupils with better literacy skills)

Designed to develop conceptual understanding and work with a group of pupils in a circle. Each pupil is given a card like a domino but one side has a question and the other side an answer to a different question. A pupil asks their question to the group and the person who has the correct answer replies with their answer and then asks their question. This works well when pupils have to physically move to complete a question and answer circle.