Piece By Piece

Most people like a quiz or a puzzle - what would daytime TV be without it after all? Change the tone of a research activity with a puzzling angle.

Jigsaws

Turning text or diagrams into a jigsaw that students need to piece together is a different way of reading and engaging with material. Copy and chop up a page or an extract and issue pieces to different students (perhaps getting the class into teams for an edge of competition). They then need to talk to each other and engage with the text to piece it back in to the right order. The same could apply to a diagram from a book – chop it up ready for reassembly to test student understanding of a concept.

Open Book Quiz

Copy a chapter and issue copies to teams of students. They have a couple of minutes to divide the pages up/familiarise themselves with the material. You then ask a series of quiz questions, the answers to which can all be found in the copy you’ve handed out.  Students note their answers and then peer mark. The answers themselves can be used as a springboard into further discussion of the topic.

Research carousel

At different stations around the room place materials for research and task students with finding out something particular. They then need to visit the various stations in a carousel – moving on at your whistle after three or four minutes, and then return to their desks to write up the answer to the investigation question. Conversely this could work as a jigsaw group activity where each member of a group visits one station and then returns to share what they’ve found out with a view to developing an answer.

About the Author

Julie Murray is Education Licences Manager at CLA, which means she trains and educates licensees in schools, further and higher education institutions about CLA licences and how they fit into the wider world of copyright. Prior to working at CLA, Julie was Head of History and Politics at an 11-18 comprehensive in London.

What are your ideas for using quizzes and puzzles in the classroom? Let us know in the comments below ⬇