Differentiation Strategies and Activities to Stretch and Challenge the More Able.
Oliver Furnival
Contents
Introduction
Who are the more able?
Why do more able students need stretch and challenge?
Where do the ideas and strategies in this report come from?
Differentiation through questioning.
Differentiation by Extension (depth):
Differentiation by increasing the level of challenge:
Justification of ideas.
Provide more open-ended, problem-solving tasks.
Role in groups.
Demand greater precision in language.
Increase pace.
Differentiation by resource:
More sophisticated sources and texts.
In-class reading activities.
Reading ahead.
Re-writing sources and texts.
Independent investigation.
Extension tasks can be set whereby further information is researched or evaluated.
Differentiation by independence:
Differentiation by Most Difficult First.
Differentiation by Reflection.
Differentiation by task:
Leading Starters and Plenaries.
Feedback sessions.
Modelling tasks.
Differentiation by outcome.
Differentiation by Support.
Differentiation through grouping More Able Students.
Differentiation by Enrichment (breadth):
In school Enrichment.
Long term enrichment tasks.
References.
Part 1: Introduction.
The aim of this booklet is to provide and explain ideas to stretch and challenge more able student both inside and outside of the classroom. Each classroom and extracurricular activity includes examples of the work given to the whole class and then gives the pedagogy behind the differentiated extension activities for the more able students.
Part 2: Who are the more able?
Different countries and schools will have their own definition and terminology for ‘more able’ students. For the benefit of this document, they are defined as the students who have above average academic ability within any given classroom. More able students are not only those who have been identified as ‘Gifted’ or ‘Talented’ by the school but who, in any class, whether it is mixed ability or set into similar academic abilities, need differentiated materials to ensure that they are stretched and challenged and given the opportunity to meet their full potential.
It is impossible to give one definition of a more able student that applies to all. Students can excel in one class due to the nature of the content and the types of tasks that have been set but this may not necessarily cross over to a different subject area where they are having to apply a different range of skills. There are common traits, however which may indicate that a student is more able than the average student. According to Ann Nelson the Gifted and Talented Coordinator for the London Borough of Havering, a more able student may possess one or more of the following traits:
Asks the questions.
Is highly curious.
Discusses in detail, elaborates.
Is intense.
Thrives on complexity.
Draws inferences.
Has quick mastery and recall of information.
Is absorbed for long periods when interested.
Is concerned to adapt and improve institutions, objects and systems.
Appreciates verbal puns, cartoons, jokes etc.
Manipulates information.
Is unwilling to accept authoritarian pronouncements without critical examination.
Criticises constructively.
Prefers to talk than write.
Thinks quickly and accurately.
Works systematically.
Generates creative working solutions.
Works flexibly, processing unfamiliar information and applying knowledge, experience and insight to unfamiliar situations.
Communicates their thoughts and ideas well.
Is determined, diligent and interested in uncovering patterns.
Achieves, or show potential, in a wide range of contexts.
Is particularly creative.
Shows great sensitivity or empathy.
Demonstrates particular physical dexterity or skill.
Makes sound judgments.
Is outstanding leaders or team members.
Is fascinated by, or passionate about, a particular subject or aspect of the curriculum.
Demonstrates high levels of attainment across a range of subjects within a particular subject, or aspects of work.
Part 3: Why do more able students need stretch and challenge?
All students deserve to have worked differentiated to meet their needs, no matter what they are. This sentiment is reflected both in the National Curriculum for England which states “Teachers should set high expectations for every pupil. They should plan stretching work for pupils whose attainment is significantly above the expected standard.” UK Government. Comment on “National Curriculum in England”, 2nd December 2014 www.gov.uk/government/publications/ national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4/the-national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4#inclusion as well as international bodies such as the International Baccalaureate who have ‘teaching differentiated to meet the needs of all learners’ as one of their six approaches to teaching and state that differentiation is “a process of identifying, with each learner, the most effective strategies for achieving agreed goals so learning opportunities can be created that enable every student to develop, pursue and achieve appropriate personal learning goals.” International Baccalaureate. Comment on “Approaches to teaching and learning”, 2015
www. xmltwo.ibo.org/publications/DP/Group0/d_0_dpatl_gui_1502_1/static/dpatl/guide-teaching-differentiated-to-meet-the-needs-of-all-learners.html
In delivering challenging provision through enrichment, extension, and pace such as the ones outlined in this document, teachers are proving opportunities to stretch and challenge more able students, allowing them to meet their full academic potential. This will have the effect of raising standards and expectations within the classroom and across the school. Failure to make provision for the more able may leave them bored and frustrated in class which might have a negative effect on their motivation, effort, and behaviour.
It is important to note that all of the stretch and challenge activities in this document can be offered to all students in the class who have shown they are ready to undertake them through their performance or if the teacher would like to use them in order to get an idea of how students can cope with higher order thinking activities. The students’ performance in the tasks can be used to guide the teacher’s future planning.
All of the activities are designed so that the more able student can report their findings back to the rest of the class. This can be done though feedback sessions, leading starter or plenary activities or the more able students creating documents for their peers.
Part 4: Where do the ideas and strategies in this report come from?
This document contains a range of strategies that I have created and implemented both inside and outside of the classroom to stretch and challenge more able students. The types of provision below are ordered from a list of general ideas created by Ann Nelson the Gifted and Talented Coordinator for the London Borough of Havering, who I worked closely with in my role as Lead Teacher for Gifted and Talented Students while working at The Chafford School in Rainham. The explanation of how each activity is created and the accompanying pedagogical explanation comes from my own practice.
Many of the ideas for the strategies have been form based on the advice within Bloom’s Questions and Activities document, created by Ann Nelson, which offers a range of verbs, question stems and potential activities and products that can be created for each of the six levels of objectives taken from the original version of his taxonomy. While the activities are primarily based on Bloom’s higher order thinking objectives of analysis, evaluation, and synthesis they also include examples of how activities based on knowledge, comprehension and application can also be differentiated to meet the needs of the more able.
Bloom’s Taxonomy Questions and Activities related to higher order thinking.
Analysis (Break down in order to bring out the essential elements or structure). |
Useful Verbs. | Sample Question Stems. | Potential activities and products. |
Analyse. Distinguish. Examine. Compare. Contrast. Investigate. Categorise. Identify. Explain. Separate. Advertise. | Which events could have happened...? If... happened, what might the ending have been? How was …. similar to...? What was the underlying theme of...? What do you see as other possible outcomes? Why did ... changes occur? Can you compare your ... with that presented in...? Can you explain what must have happened when...? What are some of the problems of...? Can you distinguish between...? What were some of the motives behind...? What was the turning point in the game? What was the problem with...? | Design a questionnaire to gather information. Write a commercial to sell a new product. Conduct an investigation to produce information to support a view. Make a flow chart to show the critical stages. Construct a graph to illustrate selected information. Make a jigsaw puzzle. Make a family tree showing relationships. Put on a play about the study area. Write a biography of the study person. Prepare a report about the area of study. Arrange a party. Make all the arrangements and record the steps needed. Review a work of art in terms of form, colour and texture. |
Evaluation (Judgments about the value of material and methods for given purposes). |
Useful Verbs. | Sample Question Stems. | Potential activities and products. |
Judge. Select. Choose. Decide. Justify. Debate. Verify. Argue. Recommend. Assess. Discuss. Rate. Prioritise. Determine. | Is there a better solution to...? Judge the value of... Can you defend your position about...? Do you think ... is a good or a bad thing? How would you have handled...? What changes to ... would you recommend? Do you believe? Are you a ... person? How would you feel if...? How effective are...? What do you think about...? | Prepare a list of criteria to judge a ... show. Indicate priority and ratings. Conduct a debate about an issue of special interest. Make a booklet about 5 rules you see as important. Convince others. Form a panel to discuss views, for example "Learning at School." Write a letter to ... advising on changes needed at... Write a half yearly report. Prepare a case to present your view about... |
Synthesis (The ability to put parts together to form a new whole). |
Useful Verbs. | Sample Question Stems. | Potential activities and products. |
Create. Invent. Compose. Predict. Plan. Construct. Design. Imagine. Propose. Devise. Formulate. | Can you design a ... to ...? Why not compose a song about...? Can you see a possible solution to...? If you had access to all resources how would you deal with...? Why don't you devise your own way to deal with...? What would happen if...? How many ways can you...? Can you create new and unusual uses for...? Can you write a new recipe for a tasty dish? Can you develop a proposal which would... | Invent a machine to do a specific task. Design a building to house your study. Create a new product. Give it a name and plan a marketing campaign. Write about your feelings in relation to... Write a TV show, play, puppet show, role play, song or pantomime about...? Design a record, book, or magazine cover for...? Make up a new language code and write material suing it. Sell an idea. Devise a way to... Compose a rhythm or put new words to a known melody. |
Part 5: Differentiation through questioning.
The key to stretching and challenging the more able is questioning; both teacher to student, and guiding students to ask them of each other.
Thinking time should be given to all students to answer questions in class. Just because a student does not answer the question within one second it does not mean they will not be able to form an answer to a question requiring quantitative data, or an opinion for a question that requires a qualitative one. Thinking time is crucial in allowing students to search their memory or resources or create ideas in order to find an answer and then to formulate it. If a teacher moves on after only a few seconds, it can leave the student frustrated, knocking their confidence in the process. In moving to another student or the teacher answering the question themselves it has the knock-on effect of the rest of the class missing out on and getting the chance to respond to the original student’s thoughts. Many students will not want to be seen as giving an incorrect answer in public and allowing them the extra time will help prevent this from happening.
An environment of trust where all ideas are accepted needs to be built up in the classroom for questioning to work well. Classrooms where incorrect answers are ridiculed or rejected without considering how the student came to that conclusion (as others who did not answer may also have done so) will result in students being afraid to give their answer, or to challenge ideas. Many questions geared towards the more able will ask them to create, evaluate or justify ideas, often putting them in a position where they have to express belief or original suggestions and it is vital that this is done in a safe environment where they feel confidence in taking a risk.
Follow up questions are essential in challenging students. Even if the teacher agrees with the student’s answer, playing devil’s advocate and putting questions to them that challenges what they have said makes students think and allows them to understand that there can be more than one correct answer or that those with different ideas can also be right.
Higher order thinking questions are central to stretching and challenging students. While these are embedded in the prepared provision for the class, as shown throughout the lesson examples in this document, they should also be used orally by the teacher in response to a student’s answer to a question in class.
The following is an example of a list of higher order thinking questions that the teacher could ask more able students in direct response to an answer they give in class.
Activity given to the class: Do you believe that the United Kingdom should reintroduce the death penalty?
Student’s answer: Yes. I believe that the death penalty should be the punishment for murderers.
Teacher follow-up questions focused on analysis.
How was your opinion created?
How can you try to convince a parent whose child was killed by capital punishment that they deserved to die?
How would your main arguments in favour of the death penalty change if you were trying to convince a 10-year-old and a 50-year-old to agree with you?
What needs to be done to make your opinion accepted knowledge?
Why do you believe in the death penalty?
Why do some people agree with you, but others don’t?
Has the death penalty always been the best way to deal with convicted murders or do you think this has changed over time?
Can you think of a counterclaim to your opinion on the death penalty? Give full reasons for it.
Can you respond to (student name)’s answer, giving a direct response and counterclaim to their main argument?
Why do you think this counterclaim exists?
What might someone who disagrees with you say in response to your strongest argument in support of the death penalty?
How could a person use religion as a counter claim to your ideas?
What steps do you go through in order to come to your opinion?
What evidence did you reject in when coming to your opinion?
Would you have come up with another answer if you had followed a different research method?
Would you have come up with another answer if you had you had looked at different sources?
What role does emotion play in your answer?
What is the relationship between fact and opinion in this matter?
How did your findings differ from your original ideas on the topic of capital punishment? What are the reasons for any changes?
Is it possible to look at this question from a completely neutral point of view?
Teacher follow-up questions focused on evaluation.
What would your starting argument be to someone who has never studied the topic before?
What would make you change your opinion on the death penalty?
What is the best way to stop murder; punishment or education?
Who should be able to vote on law changes?
Who should have the final say on whether a convicted murder should be given a pardon?
Should the family of the murdered person have a say on whether the perpetrator should receive the death penalty? If yes, to what extent?
Who should have the final say on whether a convicted murder receives the death penalty? A judge or a jury?
Who should be in a jury with the power to convict a suspect knowing that the death penalty is a possible punishment? Should the jury include people who have had members of their family previously murdered?
Would you accept that the decision as to whether to give the death penalty should be made on a case-by-case basis?
What part of your answer are you not 100% certain about? What could you do to improve your knowledge on this?
What parts of the counterclaim do you accept or refute?
What is the strongest counterclaim against your argument?
Do you think an international court should be given the final say over a national government on this issue?
To what extent is your answer culturally bound?
To what extent would the introduction of stronger prison sentences make you change your mind?
Teacher follow-up questions focused on synthesis.
Is there a punishment that could stop murder? Can you construct a new one?
Can you find a different solution to dealing with murders that is also valid?
Can we ever get 100% agreement on this issue? What would need to change for this to happen?
What would happen if the death penalty was brought in tomorrow? How would society change?
Can you propose an argument to appease the worries of people who disagree with you?
What would happen if the age limit of the death penalty included children from 10 years old?
Can you construct one argument that you believe will end the argument for good?
Would you come to the same conclusion if you looked at the issue from another perspective such as a child whose parent was put to death?
How would society be different now if the death penalty had been brought in 20 years ago?
What would happen if the possibility of the death penalty was as taken away for good?
What would happen if we changed our practice in relation to teaching the effects of murder on the victims at school?
What would happen if Amnesty International are put in charge of making the decision?
What would need to happen for your opinion on the death penalty change in the future?
It is a good idea for the teacher to create a list of question stems that can be applied to a range of different activities and share it with the students at the start of the year, which can come from those shown in Bloom’s Questions and activities on page 4. The teacher can add ones of their own such as “What if…?”, “Can you think of a counterclaim?” and “How was your opinion created?” Students can be encouraged to use them to question each other both during activities and in feedback sessions as follow up questions when their peers offer an answer. It works well for the teacher to set students the challenge of asking at least one of the questions per lesson.
Part 6: Differentiation by Extension (depth):
An effective way of meeting the needs of the more able is to incorporate extension tasks into lessons which help students to work with greater autonomy and self-discipline.
The key to extension tasks is to get students to think about the topic they are studying, either though the knowledge they have just found, or to use it as a link to new ideas. Extension activities should give the more able students a chance to look deeper into the topic they are studying, to enhance their understanding, to analyse, evaluate or synthesise the new knowledge or to apply it to new situations.
Well-designed extension tasks will extend the student’s interest in the topic, especially if they have more than one to choose from and can focus on areas of specific interest. They should not simply be designed to keep students who finish tasks busy or to offer more of the same, as this will not enhance the student’s knowledge or skills and can also lead to boredom, which in turn may reduce their motivation for doing them.
While it seems logical to put extension tasks at the end of the main work that all of the students in the class have to do, the location of them within the activity can depend on the prior knowledge of the students as well as what they are being asked to do. Extension tasks work well at the end of an activity when the teacher wants the students to analyse the new information they have found, evaluate ideas within it, or use it to create new ideas. Extension tasks can be placed at the start of the activity when the teacher is confident of the students’ background knowledge and their ability to analyse what they have previously learnt. This also works if the activity is asking students to use their initiative, make predictions or give suggestions for a future task. Placing extension tasks at the start of the activity gives more able students the chance to take on the ‘most difficult first’, as explained in part 10.
A third option is for the teacher to monitor the students’ progress as they work and to divert them to the extension activity when they feel they are ready to do so before having to complete the rest of the standard questions that have been set for the rest of the class. This option works well if the teacher feels the student has already gained enough knowledge and skills in order for them to be able to attempt the higher order tasks linked to them.
It works well, for the teacher to instruct the more able students to let them know when they are about to start the extension tasks. This gives the teacher the chance to give further guidance on the task, when necessary, as well as allowing the teacher to get the students to work together on them when appropriate. Monitoring the students’ progress within the extension tasks allows the teacher to modify them, when necessary, in order to provide the correct level of challenge.
The following examples are extension tasks that I have created in my lessons based on the prompts from Bloom’s Questions and Activities.
Classroom example 1.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 Citizenship. Direct Democracy.
Overview of lesson:
All students undertake a jigsaw activity where they are split into three groups, with each one being allocated a topic of either ‘The Concept of Democracy’, ‘Representative Democracy’ or ‘Direct Democracy’. Students must read the text provided on their topic and answer three questions on it.
The three questions given to each group for their topic are comprehension ones based on the text that they have been given. This allow every student to get the main ideas that will be needed for the basis of a discussion later in the lesson.
Each topic also includes an extension question which asks the students to analyse or evaluate the information they have found, rather than just find facts on it. Students can attempt these questions on their own or with others in their group. It is a good idea for the teacher to design the groups so that there are more able students within each one, giving more chance for peer discussion if they finish the initial three questions before their peers.
Students are then put into a new group, joining peers who had previously been working on the other topics. In the new groups the students teach the information they have found from the first activity and fill in the sections of the handout based on what their peers teach them on the topic they had been studying about.
Activity given to the whole class, extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Concepts of Democracy questions based on a text the students have read.
What is the translation of democracy from Greek?
How is democracy different to other ways of running a country?
Explain how the democracy is linked to rights and responsibilities.
Extension activity for Concept of Democracy:
This question requires students to evaluate, through defending a position based on the topic they have just read about. While the text does not give a point of view to help the students, it sets up the concept of democracy. The extension question requires the student consider the amount of power a government should have within it, and the implications too much power would have on democracy. Asking the students to try and show two sides of the debate requires them to investigate different perspectives, which can be gained from their own ideas or their peers, and not just accept their own initial ideas.
Representative Democracy questions based on a text the students have read.
Give a brief overview of the election process.
How do citizens know whom to vote for?
What can citizens do if they would like to contact their MP during the 5-year term?
Extension activity for Representative Democracy:
This question requires the students to analyse the information they have been given. The text does not explicitly state where power lies, and it is left to the student to make a decision based on the implications of what they have read. Here, the students can use the information they have found, such as the time between elections and use it as reasons and examples within an argument as to where power lies. This type of extension task opens up the possibility of a debate between students as to the influence five years between elections has on who holds the power in the country.
Direct Democracy questions based on a text the students have read.
Extension activity for Direct Democracy:
This question requires students to analyse Direct Democracy through comparing and contrasting the system in Switzerland, which they have just read about, with the political system UK, where they live. In order to answer the question, the students will need to recall any background knowledge of the political system in the UK and can use contemporary news stories or events from their lives to support their arguments. The question is testing the students’ skills of identifying the main aspects of Direct Democracy in the text they have just read and then consider whether, and when, the system applies to them in their lives.
Classroom example 2.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 8 Geography. Coastal Erosion.
Overview of lesson:
The following activity is used a starter, asking students to reflect on the previous topic of coastal erosion before they start on a new topic within the unit.
Activity given to the whole class:
Each instruction or question given to the class starts with one of the verbs used in Bloom’s Taxonomy’s Questions and Activities, getting progressively more challenging.
Define: Hydraulic action, Attrition, Abrasion, Solution.
Explain: Longshore drift in 140 characters or less.
Think: Do you think the rock around all of Britain’s coasts all erodes at the same rate? Why / why not?
Discuss: What is the best way to protect coasts from longshore drift: stone walls or groynes? Give reasons to explain your decision.
Evaluate: To what extent is keeping the beach looking attractive important when creating beach defences?
Synthesis: Create a new way to protect the coast. Explain how it would work and how it is designed not to put perspectives tourists off from visiting the area.
This activity can be set up in two ways.
Firstly, the teacher can instruct students to complete the questions in order, with the expectation that the first three questions, covering knowledge, comprehension, and application, are completed in time given. If the activity is set up this way, the more able students could move on to the final three questions on discussion, evaluation, and synthesis, which require more thinking skills, should they finish the initial three before the end of the activity.
Alternatively, the teacher could set up the activity where the students are allowed to choose to answer the questions in any order they like. This decision can be based on their interest in the topic, the knowledge they have previously obtained, or where they feel they need extra practice. It should be made clear to the class that the teacher will also go around the room at the start of the allotted time and offer bespoke advice or instructions to students on which question they should attempt first. This can be based on the student’s performance in the topic during previous lessons, to offer them direction, and also to ensure that the student has chosen an activity that will adequately challenge them. This works best when the teacher goes to the student’s desk to quietly advise the student on what they want them to do, with a quick explanation why. Here, the teacher can choose a question that is most likely to challenge each more able student taking into account that they have already previously studied the topic. The teacher could also set the more able students the task of having to complete more activities in the given time than their peers.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Both the “Discuss” and “Evaluate” questions are asking students to make a decision based on the information they have previously studied. Their answers require facts and opinions they have gathered in class, but the questions are also designed to require them to apply their own ideas when coming to a decision.
The “Synthesis” question, while also including information and problems that have been covered in class, requires the students to use their own initiative. Adding the instruction that their new way of protecting the coast must be attractive in order to keep tourists visiting adds a new layer of problem solving to the equation.
It is a good idea to put the students who have been told to or have chosen to do the higher-level thinking questions in pairs so that they can discuss their ideas as they work through them.
The open-ended design of the higher-level thinking questions allows them to be opened up to the whole class for a debate during the feedback session, led by the students who have undertaken them have given a brief overview of their initial thoughts which their peers can then respond to. A class vote is a nice way to give a formal ending to the proceedings.
Classroom example 3.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 7 Citizenship. The European Union.
Overview of lesson:
In this lesson all students are asked to summarise ideas on four areas of the European Union that they have been studying: The European Union’s aims, The European Union’s rules, The rights given to European Union members and the organisation of The European Union.
The first activity requires all students to correctly categorise a set of given facts on the European Union by placing them into the correct section of the table.
In the second activity, all students must complete questions “a” and “b” on each of the four topics, which is done as part of a ‘think-pair-share’ activity. This is a thinking activity in itself where students have to use evaluation skills to rank the information, they have found in the first activity into order of importance, and then must write down the reasons for their choices. This is a challenging task that asks students to evaluate the information they have found and defend their position on it.
If the pair finish questions “a” and “b” before the allotted time, they are instructed to complete an extension task, which is clearly labelled “c) Extension”.
Each of the extension tasks is directly linked to questions “a” and “b” within the topic and requires students to analyse, evaluate and synthesise the information they have obtained, both commenting on established practice and coming up with their own ideas.
The final extension activity, which is given to students who finish all of the extension activities for each of the four topics requires them to make a judgement and then support it. The country in the example given should be a country that is not currently part of the European Union. The example below is of Japan. Alternatively, the teacher can decide to use a country that is currently in the European Union, which works well if the lesson is being taught within one. Here the question can be changed to “Would you like # to remain in, or leave the EU?”
While the lesson above, is on the face of it only a basic recap lesson, it still provides plenty of opportunities to provide questions and activities for the more able students who may race through the knowledge, comprehension, and ranking questions, having picked up the facts quickly and are able to justify their ideas at a faster pace than their peers.
Activity given to the whole class, extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
European Union Aims.
Put the European Union aims into order of importance in your table.
Write down your reasons for your most important aim.
Extension Question:
This question is asking students to analyse the aims of the European Union. In doing so they can either look at them theoretically or use knowledge from the real world, including their own experiences including organisations they have been part of, such as a school council, and apply them to the European Union’s ideals.
European Union Rules.
Put the European Union’s rules into order of importance in your table.
Write down your reasons for your most important rule.
Extension Question: Which rule do you think would be the most unpopular with people who don’t like the European Union? Explain why.
This question is asking students to evaluate the European Union rules, and depending on their own point of view, they may have to defend a position they do not agree with. In explaining the most unpopular rule the students must link it to real life and discuss its implications. In asking students to analyse the most unpopular rule, the question is guaranteeing that the student had not considered its benefits in parts “a” or “b”, which were focusing on important rules. It does, however, open up the possibility of the student arguing that the rule they have seen as the most important could also be seen as unpopular through someone else’s viewpoint, allowing them to consider two sides to the same argument when evaluating it.
European Union Rights.
Put the European Union rights into order of importance in your table.
Write down your reasons for your most important right.
Extension Question:
This question challenges students to use their skills on synthesis through looking at the rights that are already in the European Union and then having to create new ones. This allows them to either consider different rights they have learnt about or make new ones up themselves based on their needs or the needs of others in society. Students can consider real life stories from within the European Union and apply rights that could improve the lives of those involved or can create them based on situations that have not occurred yet, but they believe important.
European Union Organisation.
Put the different parts of the European Union into order of importance in your table.
Write down your reason for the part of the European Union that you have chosen as the most important.
Extension Question:
Again, this question is asking the students to use their skills of synthesis. The question requires them to use their knowledge of democracy to decide which parts of the European Union they believe are democratic and then to consider how they can make the other parts more democratic. This task allows the students to put what they have previously learnt about democracy into a real-life example and requires them to explain how they would do so.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
This question requires students to consider all of the information they have gathered in this lesson, previous lessons, and from their own previously held ideas to create a balanced argument on whether they would want the country they live in to be part of the European Union. Students must evaluate the European Union using knowledge they have gained to help them justify their ideas. The question asks students to give a balanced argument to ensure that they have to respond to all of the knowledge that has been gathered and consider that it can be used to justify more than one viewpoint.
Classroom example 4.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 Citizenship. Politics.
Overview of lesson:
Students have to respond to a real-life issue in their local community which had previously been decided by a class vote after the students had presented a local issue they were interested in focusing on. The design of the lesson is a step-by-step process where, following on from previous work on pressure groups and political parties, students have to address the issue from the viewpoint of a pressure group and then from the local council. This exposes students to different opinions on the issue and asks them to find a solution while taking on different roles.
Activity 1 given to the whole class:
Local issue: Homeless people have been sitting, and even sleeping, in the public library all day.
You are unhappy that homeless people are ‘taking over’ the library. You have spoken to other library users and formed a pressure group.
Explain why you are unhappy with homeless people in the library. Who would agree with you and why?
Extension activity 1 and pedagogical explanation:
While the original question given to the whole class is a thinking one where they have to explain their reasons and consider who would agree with them, the extension question asks students to analyse the issue in more depth reflecting on their first answer and looking at it from different perspectives. In the main activity students have to give ‘their’ viewpoint after being instructed that they are unhappy that homeless people are in the library all day (which may not be their own personal position on the issue). In asking the students to then consider the problems with the original viewpoint of being unhappy with homeless people in the library, the teacher is ensuring that they are looking at more than one viewpoint, whichever their actual one is. The second question in the extension task is asking students to consider who would disagree with them, asking them to analyse viewpoints of different groups within the local community. The teacher could give the class groups to consider such as homeless charities, parents with young children and schools, ensuring that the students are creating arguments from focus groups that can be used later on in the lesson.
Activity 2 given to the whole class:
So, what are you going to do about it?
You have decided that you are going to take action.
You must choose one of the following actions and then fill in the table explaining your choice.
Choices of action:
Write a letter to the library explaining your views.
Write a letter to the City Hall explaining your views.
Create a petition and send it to the city hall.
Extension activity 2 and pedagogical explanation:
While the first task asks all students to choose one of the three options given to them, the extension task asks them to give an analysis of the two actions that they dismissed. In doing so the students are showing that they have looked at more than one reason in depth and are able to look at their strengths and weaknesses, requiring the students to compare and contrast the different options for them. In completing this extension task, the students have to justify their original answer which it helps ensure that they don’t simply make a random choice of action in the main activity. The students can use the ideas they come up with in this extension task to respond to groups who have different choices of action to them in a feedback discussion.
Activity 3 given to the whole class:
Your first attempt at making a change has failed and the homeless people are still going to the library.
You have decided that you want to take further action with the aim of trying to persuade the local government and getting as many people as possible to hear about this issue.
You must choose one of the following actions and then fill in the table explaining your choice.
Extension activity 3 and pedagogical explanation:
This extension activity requires students to use their evaluation skills to make arguments for the best way to inform others of the action they have decided to take, including raking options. Not only do the students have to consider the different types of action they can take to their message across to others in the community to build support, but they also have to make choice to determine the best type of media to get their message across and then justify their reasons. This will provoke discussion on who uses which types of media and how each one can be utilised to get the message across.
Classroom example 5.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 8 History: The Rise of the Samurai.
Overview of lesson:
In this introductory lesson students have to find out why Kamakura was chosen as the capital city of Japan in 1192, starting with looking at general reasons why an area is chosen as the site of a capital city.
Activity given to the whole class:
The lesson starts with an activity where students have to consider and rank the requirements that are needed for a capital city to be able to sustain itself. Rather than ask the students to have to come up with the reasons themselves, they are provided by the teacher. The advantage of this is it provides students who may have difficulty coming up with answers themselves with sound ideas that they can then evaluate. This also ensures that the students are working with the same ideas that will come up again in different activities later in the lesson, which the teacher has set up beforehand, allowing the teacher to put students in groups if they would like to. Giving the students the answers also saves time in eliciting them from the class, however the teacher could also give this as a quick starter activity to see how many of the ideas the students can come up with themselves. Students are asked to work in pairs in the activity.
Three extension activities are given to students who complete the first activity before the allotted time. The teacher can instruct the students to attempt the questions in their order of their choice.
Think: You need to create a new Capital City where you will base your government.
Rank the following requirements in terms of importance for your city. Number 1 is the most important.
Requirements for a sustainable capital city
Our ranking of the importance of each requirement.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
This question is asking student to use their evaluation skills by justifying their choices in the main activity. Alternatively, it could also be designed to ask the students to give reasons for their number five choice, which can be more challenging than giving reasons for their top one. The whole class could be asked to note down the reasons given in the feedback session to see if they apply to Kamakura later in the lesson.
This question is asking students to analyse the different requirements and to consider how they are linked together. The design of this question allows the students to make links between two or more of the requirements at a time, requiring them to synthesise the information they have been given to see how different parts rely on each other. It works well to get students to write the links on the board during the feedback activity to show their thought process. Different students could make new links with the same requirements in a different colour board pen to show the range of different ideas and connections.
Extension Question:
This activity requires students to express their own ideas that they may have suggested in a brainstorm at the start of the lesson but are not the teacher’s chosen ones. This empowers students to explain ideas that they feel are better than the ones that have been offered by the teacher and it is nice when the teacher congratulates the students for coming up with new ideas. It is a good idea to get all of the students to make notes of the new ideas given in the feedback session as they may be useful later on in the lesson.
Classroom example 6.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 Economics. Competitive Markets.
Overview of lesson:
The aim of the lesson is to introduce competitive markets and for students to understand how they work, looking at the implications on firms and consumers. While all students will have the opportunity to consider all of the implications, the more able are asked to analyse information to try to create them on their own.
Activity given to the whole class:
In this activity all students are asked to use consider a situation they may have encountered on a regular basis; the choice of where to buy a soft drink when there is more than one option. The ideas the students get from this brainstorm lead on to the second part of the activity where they have to look in the textbook to explain the techniques that firms use to compete for their trade.
How do firms compete?
Think:
You want to buy a bottle of Yakult. There is a Mini Stop and a Family Mart near your house. Explain what factors would make you choose which shop to go to.
Read ‘How do firms compete’ on page 12 of the textbook.
Summarise how firm compete. Include the following terms: performance, productivity, prices, innovate, quality choice, efficiency.
Which of the ways firms compete have an influence on how you made your choice in part a?
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Competitive markets look positive for consumers. Firms are competing with each other to try and make us trade with them, which can only benefit us…or can it? Your task is to analyse the information you have in found in task b as well as experiences from your own life: What are some of the problems that competitive markets can cause for consumers? Can you give real life examples of this happening?
In the extension activity more able students who have finished parts a-c before the end of the allotted time are given the opportunity to look beyond the obvious conclusion that competitive markets are beneficial for consumers and to consider the problems they may cause. The students are instructed to analyse both the information they have just found, as well as to consider the experiences they have found in real life, allowing them to bring in a wider scope of ideas which can be used to strengthen their arguments. While hints can be given to students by the teacher, such as a wide range of goods causing possible uncertainty on which is the best one, this activity works well when students are allowed to use their own ideas. It does not matter if the ideas they come up with are incorrect, as the correct ones will be given for all students to find in the next activity.
Classroom example 7.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 History. World War One.
Overview of lesson:
In this lesson on World War One students have to investigate why the Schlieffen Plan failed in 1914. Students are provided with the reasons for the plan being created and the different variables in Europe at the time. They have to create their own plan of action and then compare and contrast it to the real one that was used by Germany.
Activity given to the whole class:
The main activity in the lesson requires all students, in the role of Count Alfred Von Schlieffen to use their synthesis skills by designing a plan for the war based on the intelligence that is given to them.
It is 1905. You are Count Alfred Von Schlieffen of the German Army. You have been asked to draw a plan that will give Germany a quick victory in a war.
Look at the following intelligence:
Germany is surrounded by France and Russia.
Russia is slow to get ready for wars. Germany believe it would take Russia 6 weeks to get her army together.
Speed is important to win the war.
The border between France and Germany is heavily defended by French troops.
Germany knows that France wants to win back land lost to Germany in 1871.
Belgium is a neutral country but is friends with Britain. Britain signed a treaty in 1839 saying it would help Belgium if it were ever attacked.
In pairs look at the German assumptions. Write down how you would respond to each one.
German Assumptions | Our plan |
The Belgians would have a really weak army and would not pose any threat to the mighty German army.
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France would not have very strong defences. If we attacked them with all our forces, then we could defeat France in less than six weeks.
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The Russian army was very far away. It would take them at least 8 weeks to mobilise (get their army ready).
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The British were against the Germans. However, they were across the English Channel and would not get involved. |
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Write what you would do and in the order you would do it.
We will…
We will…
We will….
Draw your plan onto a map of Europe.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
What would you do if..?
Look at the possibilities you have been presented with in the table below, outlining different possibilities and explain how you would respond to them. Would they make you change your original plan? If so, how?
Possibility: | What changes would you make to your plan? |
The UK sends an army to defend Belgium. |
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Russia manages to mobilize in two weeks. |
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The French army successfully defends its border with Germany. |
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Belgium may flood its land to hold up our attack. |
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In the extension activity the more able students have to use their synthesis skills by developing their proposed plan through creating solutions to respond to each possibility that has been given to them. The activity can be designed so that when students have finished the whole-class activity of creating their own Schlieffen Plan, they can be guided to a different part of the room with information and can discuss whether they would draw a new plan for each of them or stick with their original ideas. The students can be asked to present their responses to the possibilities to the class during the feedback session, with their peers being given the opportunity to respond to them.
Classroom example 8.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 History. World War One.
Overview of lesson:
In this year 10 history lesson on World War One the students have to investigate the Treaty of Versailles. The aim of the lesson is for the students to find out the consequences of each part of the treaty. This is information which the students can use at a later date when investigating the causes of World War Two.
Activity given to the whole class:
A summary of each part of the Treaty of Versailles is given to the students. In pairs, they have to find each term of the treaty and write down the consequences linked to each one, filling in the appropriate box on the table. The consequences will be used by students as supporting evidence later in the lesson.
Terms of the treaty. | Consequences of this part of the treaty. | Extension: Fair or unfair? Give your reasons. |
Germany must accept all the blame for starting the war. |
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The German army was cut to 100,000 men. |
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Germany was only allowed 6 battleships and was not allowed to build any submarines, planes or tanks. |
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German army was banned from the Rhineland (part of Germany near France). |
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All of Germany`s foreign colonies were taken away and given to the winning countries. |
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Germany lost land to France, Belgium, Denmark, Poland and the League of Nations. |
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Germany had to pay 226,000,000,000 Marks. (They finished paying interest on loans in 2010). |
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What changes to the Treaty of Versailles would you recommend to each of the leaders? You must suggest changes that they will be more likely to agree to taking into account their own interests they have to protect.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Extension Question 1:
While this activity is open to all students, it does not need to be completed within the allotted time (the teacher should make it clear that only the consequences column needs to be filled in by all the students). This activity is asking students to use their evaluation skills, getting them to make a judgement. It also asks them to justify their views. The teacher could put the more able students into pairs to work together, or could use mixed pairs, with the more able students leading the discussion with a partner.
In the feedback session the teacher can open the “Fair or unfair?” questions to the whole class allowing all students to take part in a Yes / No stations activity where they have to justify their ideas. A quick survey of the students beforehand will allow the teacher to know who is best placed to lead the discussion on each part. A different approach for the feedback session would be for the teacher to ask selected students to say whether each part of the treaty is fair or unfair, with notes being written on the board for others to take down.
Extension Question 2:
This extension question is designed for the students who have completed all parts of the table before the end of the allotted time. Here the students are being asked to apply the knowledge they have gained in this activity as well as the previous knowledge they have learnt on how the public and politicians from France, The United States of America and Great Britain felt about Germany, as well as their wants and expectations from the treaty. They must use this knowledge to both evaluate the treaty and make suggestions and recommendations for change. In the feedback session the teacher could put the recommendations to the rest of the class for them to either accept or reject them. This can be done through students giving their own opinions or arguing in the role of the country that they have been given by the teacher.
Classroom example 9.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 Economics. Money.
Overview of lesson:
The aim of this lesson is for students to appreciate the use of money as a medium of exchange, store of values and means of deferred payment.
Activity given to the whole class:
After a discussion on the meaning of the four functions of money, the students have to explain each term having looked them up in the textbook. Students then go on to apply the new knowledge by describing examples of when they have used money for each of its uses. This can also be given as a homework activity where the students can question members of their family.
State the four functions of money from page 11 of OCR Economics.
Explain the terms from above:
Describe when you have used money for any of the functions above.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
In the extension activity students are asked to use their synthesis skills and predict what would happen if the supply of money increased significantly looking at the affect this would have on the four functions of money they have just studied. By following on from the previous activity, the students can use their knowledge of the impact of money on their lives to predict how this would change if there was a greater supply of it. The students are also asked to find a historical example of what actually happens when there is a significant increase of money on the market. This requires them to use their independent research skills and from which they can compare and contrast their ideas with reality. As this could be an area that is new to them, the students can be given a range of different areas and examples and instructed to focus on one of their own choices. The teacher could also decide to designate specific cases to different students to ensure that there is a wide range of examples that can be shared with the rest of the class. When I have taught this unit in the same school year as the causes of World War Two, I have asked students to find out the effects on the significant increase in the supply of money in the Weimar Republic in 1923. This allows students to make links between different subject areas, in this case the influence on economics on a historical event.
Part 7: Differentiation by increasing the level of challenge:
Classroom activities can be adapted to give more able students an increased level of challenge through the following examples.
Justification of ideas.
More able students can be asked to justify their ideas, either orally or in written form to the teacher as the activity is progressing, or during a feedback session for the rest of the class to hear and respond to, which can be also be done in more able student led feedback sessions.
The following question stems will help more able students justify their ideas. They can be given to students in written form at the start of the year with an agreement that the more able students must refer to them when making claims. The stems can also be given for the students to refer to throughout their lessons such as being written on the individual lesson handout, or orally form the teacher, as the lesson is progressing.
Why do you say that?
What steps did you take to reach that answer?
What evidence have you used to support your claim? Why did you choose this evidence?
What sources have you used to help you form your opinion? How do you know that these sources are reliable?
Has your answer changed from previously held beliefs? If so, what made you change the way you think?
How could you convince someone who disagrees with you to change their mind?
Would your opinion change if you were (teacher choose from the following depending on the lesson): a different race, age, gender, living in a different time or place? Give reasons for your views.
What other options did you consider and why did you not accept them?
What evidence did you reject when forming your opinion?
How could this situation be looked at another way?
What might # (a different stakeholder) say in response to your answer?
Are there any other possible answers to #?
How would you respond if someone said # (a different idea to the one the student has presented).
Classroom example 10.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 7 Citizenship. Crime.
Overview of lesson:
In this lesson, the class have study a local newspaper article where the police have warned shopkeepers not to sell eggs or flour to school children in the run up to trick or treat at Halloween. The police stated within it that they would look to charge shopkeepers with incitement to cause criminal damage if they did so.
Activity given to the whole class:
After the students have read the newspaper article, they are given a range of questions including the following:
“Do you think the police should have the power to punish shop keepers for selling eggs and flour? Give reasons for your view.”
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
If you answered “Yes” you must answer the follow up questions:
Would you change your answer if the shopkeeper was struggling to make money?
How would you respond to the view that it is the children’s parent’s responsibility to ensure good behaviour and not the shopkeeper? Indeed, the child could simply steal the eggs and flour from their parent’s kitchen.
How would you respond to the idea that stopping shopkeepers from selling eggs and flour hurts the local economy?
If you answered “No” you must answer the follow up questions:
How would you respond to an elderly lady who says she lives in fear of October 31st due to children throwing eggs at her house?
How would you respond to the local council who say that throwing eggs and flour is vandalism and ruins community spirit (consider the fact that the shop keepers might need the money and can’t take responsibility for what happens to what they sell)?
What other suggestions can you come up with to try to persuade shopkeepers to play a part in stopping vandalism at Halloween?
The follow up questions require the more able students to analyse and justify their answers in more depth. Through adding new information to the story and by asking them to respond to different stakeholders who may not agree with them, students get the opportunity to consider their answer through different points of view.
Making students respond to different viewpoints requires them to have to look at their opinions in more depth and offer a justification to points of view that they may not have considered through the initial question that was given to the whole class.
The teacher could ask students to answer all of the follow up questions in the order that they were written or could give students the option to answer them in the order they like until the end of the allotted time.
Provide more open-ended, problem-solving tasks.
Similar to the ideas shown in part 7, more able students could be given more open-ended tasks where there is more than one possible answer. These tasks work well when there is more than one option available for them to attempt as it will allow the students to take their learning in the direction that they are most interested in. This extra work set does not need to be linked to any formative or summative assessment tasks, as not all of the students will attempt them, but should be designed to encourage the more able students’ curiosity and give them the chance to put their thinking skills into practice.
Classroom example 11.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 9 Citizenship: The Global Village.
Overview of lesson:
In the lesson students investigate the pros and cons of tourism. Before this activity they have been looking at tourism in general and are now using the city of Kamakura in Japan as a case study.
Activity given to the whole class:
Look at the video of Kamakura in Japan.
Would you like to visit Kamakura? Explain your answer.
What are the positive impacts of tourism on Kamakura?
What are the negative impacts of tourism on Kamakura?
Explain the most positive and negative impact of tourism on Kamakura.
“Tourism is crucial to the people of Kamakura.” Do you agree? Explain your reasons.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Kamakura is a city in Japan that has 17 million visitors a year. Your task is to try to solve each of the following problems that tourism brings. Remember, tourism brings in a lot of money and jobs to Kamakura so the local council doesn’t want to ban everyone, but you must make new rules to make tourism more sustainable.
Problems:
Traffic jams caused by visitors as well as companies bringing goods and services.
Pollution caused by the amount of traffic and busy hotels.
Litter.
Wear and tear to ancient temples.
Noise pollution.
Crowded pavements—difficult for the elderly, parents with prams and the disabled to walk around.
Your own idea.
Design an advert that both welcomes tourists to Kamakura but also gives three rules that they must abide by when they visit. You must make sure that your advert solves your three most important problems but also makes Kamakura an attractive place to visit—what incentives can you create that will ensure that tourists still want to visit?
You have been given the job of trying to solve the litter problem on Kamakura beach. Simply putting more litter bins on the beach has failed due to some people ignoring them or being bothered to collect their litter and walk to the nearest bin. You must create a punishment that will both ensure that people do not leave their litter on the beach but is also not too hard in that it will stop people visiting, or too soft so that people will ignore it. You must also make sure that your punishment is fair to all in society.
The three extension tasks above build on the information that the students have found in the whole class activity. Each extension task tests students’ synthesis skills in getting them to solve a problem through using their initiative. There is no one correct answer to any of the tasks and they require the students to use their analytical and evaluation skills in order to try to find solutions that are going to solve the problem in a sustainable way that will ensure that tourists still want to visit the city. The students must also find solutions that are fair to all in society, taking the different needs of stakeholders such as the businesses, residents of Kamakura, environment, and tourists into account in the first two tasks and people’s wealth and age into consideration when considering punishments in the final task. Looking at the issue of tourism through the lenses of different stakeholders allows the more able students to practice their evaluation skills.
Role in groups.
When students are put in mixed ability groups and are given the task of splitting their responsibilities with them, the teacher can ensure that the more able students are given roles that requires in-depth research or tasks that involve analysis, evaluation, or synthesis. The more able students will be required to share their findings back to the group as part of the task; here they can be instructed to explain the strategies and / or skills they used to find the information to the rest of the group, which will be a beneficial learning experience for all.
Tasks allocated to more able students in the group can be designed to ensure that they have to use greater independence skills than the rest of their peers, which can be done through either the process of finding the required information or the level of difficulty of the work they have to do with it. Group work also provides the opportunity for more able students to show leadership skills which can include them deciding on the roles of each student in their group (they can be asked to justify their process in doing this) and being given the responsibility of monitoring each student’s progress within it to make sure the group is on task.
There are times when the more able students can be grouped together. In these situations, they can be instructed only to concentrate on the non-knowledge based, higher level thinking tasks within the activity, which could then be amalgamated into the work of the other groups at the end of the process. The teacher could set the task up so that each more abled student is assigned to a group at the start of the process, then goes to work with the other more able students to undertake their activities together before returning to their original group at the end of the process to share their findings as well as picking up the knowledge that the other students have found.
Classroom example 12.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 Human Rights.
Overview of lesson:
In this lesson students have to research the work of Amnesty International, a non-governmental organisation that works to protect people’s Human Rights around the world.
Activity given to the whole class:
Students are put into groups and must split the responsibilities between themselves in order to find the information required for each question. When the roles have been agreed the students go off to find their allocated information, re-joining their peers to share it when they’ve found it, so that all in the group have the complete picture of the work that Amnesty International does. Each group can then raise awareness of Amnesty International throughout the school. This can be done through giving presentations to other classes supported by making display work. Alternatively, groups could present at assemblies.
Explain the aims of Amnesty International. What are its goals?
http://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are
Kanako
How can the public get involved with helping Amnesty International?
http://www.amnesty.org/en/how-you-can-help
Look at Human Rights issues in the United Kingdom. Concentrate on one issue
https://www.amnesty.org/en/countries/europe-and-central-asia/united-kingdom/
Explain the background to the story.
What Human Rights are being highlighted in the story?
What would Amnesty International like to happen?
What is your view on the story?
Amnesty`s success stories.
Choose a story and explain how Amnesty campaigned to bring a successful end to the issue.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/50
Types of protest.
Look at all the different ways Amnesty chooses to protest. Describe the top 3 ways it uses to protest. Explain why you believe these are good methods of protesting.
http://www.amnesty.org/en/who-we-are/amnesty-international-in-your-country
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
During the activity the teacher can visit the groups one by one and assign a question from three to five to the more able student(s) within each one. While questions one and two are important to the presentation, they require less research than questions three to five and offer less choices. Questions three to five require the students to look at a wider range of information and then to make a decision on what to include in the presentation, using their evaluation skills.
The teacher can set the activity up so that the student(s) who is taking on question three to five could find more than one piece of information and could then report on them to the group for all to make the joint decision on what is to be included in the final presentation.
Depending on the size of the groups, the more able students could lead other members in their group who are working with them on a question.
Demand greater precision in language.
Teachers can challenge more able students through the use of language in a number of ways.
In order to ensure that the more able students are using subject specific vocabulary, they can be given a glossary of terms that they must include in their answer. The teacher can also differentiate activities to expose the more able students to more sophisticated language, such as through bespoke texts. While this is good practice for all students, the more able students could be instructed to use a wider range of terminology and to have to include it in their explanations and examples, thus exposing it to their peers in feedback sessions.
Classroom example 13.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 7 Citizenship. The European Union.
Overview of lesson:
Students have to find examples of reasons that support both the United Kingdom remaining and leaving the European Union and must then write them in the under the correct heading in the table (if this activity is done digitally, students can copy and paste the reasons into the correct place). The students will use these ideas to form arguments for a debate on the issue in a later lesson
At the start of the activity the teacher instructs all students to put the ideas in “Ideas table 1” into the correct column in their “Remain / Leave” table unless told to use the ideas from “Ideas table 2”, which the teacher can do by instructing the more able students one by one as the activity starts.
Activity given to the whole class:
On June 23rd 2016. The United Kingdom held a referendum. The question was:
“Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
Fill in the table below with examples for ‘remain in the European Union’ and for ‘leave the European Union’.
Write the ideas from ‘Ideas table 1’ into the correct box below (some of you will be asked to use the ideas in ‘Ideas table 2’). We will do the first one together.
Remain in the European Union | Leave the European Union |
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Ideas table 1 |
The EU can share power between countries. | It is expensive. | Joining the Euro makes it easier to trade on around the world. |
The big countries have too much power. | EU countries can work together on issues like the environment, immigration, terrorism and employment. | The British economy will be unstable outside of the EU. |
The EU is taking over Britain, for example, health, education, law, tax. | EU citizens can work, study and move freely between member countries. | The 'open borders' of the EU are a security risk. |
EU countries can have trade agreements with each other. | The EU stops conflict and war. | Other countries shouldn’t make decisions for Britain. |
The EU gives European countries a stronger voice on the international stage. |
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Please use this table if you are asked to.
Ideas table 2. |
The EU can share power between countries of varying size and wealth, so no one country is the most powerful. | It is expensive to run. | Signing the UK up to the Euro, say supporters, would make it easier to buy and sell on the world market. |
It is dominated by the big countries at the expense of the smaller and newer members. | Through the EU countries can work out issues that don't 'respect borders' like the environment, immigration, terrorism and employment | The Euro is criticised for being unproven and a threat to national sovereignty |
The EU is trying to impose regulation on policy areas that should be the responsibility of the British governments (for example, health, education, law, tax) | It allows EU citizens to work, study and move freely between member countries. | The 'open borders' of the EU are a security risk. |
EU countries can have trade agreements with each other and as a result more stable economies | It can resolve conflict and offer European countries a stronger voice on the international stage. | Britain has always done fine on its own, I don’t like the idea of a bunch of foreigners making decisions for British citizens. |
Scotland voted to stay in the EU overall, so this could mean they want a 2nd Independence referendum.
| The British economy has an unstable future outside of the EU | We will get to have our beautiful traditional blue passports back. |
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
In using the ideas from “Ideas table 2” instead of “Ideas table 1”, while making the same points as in table 1, the more able students are being exposed to more sophisticated language. In requiring the more able students to use this language, here, and in later activities including both group and whole class debates, they will be exposing all of the students in the class to it.
Another strategy to challenge more able students through language is by the teacher giving them a different word limit for an activity to the rest of the class. Instead of asking them to write “more of the same” the more able students could be instructed to write less. One example of this is to ask the students to summarise their findings in 280 characters, which is this the maximum number of characters allowed for a tweet on Twitter. This encourages students to use succinct language and only stick to the main ideas.
Students could also be asked to adapt their language to different audiences, such as making it applicable for different age groups.
Classroom example 14.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 History,
Overview of lesson:
In this lesson students have been studying about the case of Sacco and Vanzetti in 1921 as part of a topic on intolerance in the United States of America. The case study looks at the treatment the Sacco and Vanzetti received in court, as well as the public’s response, with students creating a newspaper article on the event.
Activity given to the whole class:
Look at page 200 and read ‘Sacco and Vanzetti’
Were Sacco and Vanzetti treated fairly? Explain your answer using evidence to back up your ideas.
What is happening in source 44? What does it say about the attitude of some of the American public?
Your task is to write a newspaper article the day after Sacco and Vanzetti were executed in 1921.
Your article must include:
The main facts of the case.
A brief background to Sacco and Vanzetti’s lives.
An interview with a protester, explaining why he/she was protesting.
A conclusion saying why you believe Sacco and Vanzetti were executed and whether it was a fair punishment.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Extension task:
Write your newspaper for one of the following age groups; 10-year-olds, 15-year-olds or university students. As you write make sure that your style and language is designed to allow your audience to be able to access all of the information.
Imagine that Twitter existed in 1921. Give a summary of your newspaper article in 280 characters or less. You must cover the same points as in your original article. You must include the following key terms: Anarchist, beliefs, evidence, prejudice.
If the teacher would like the more able students to attempt the first extension task, they must either told at the start of the activity so they can write only one newspaper article aimed at the audience they choose or are given. If the teacher would like them to do it on top of the original article aimed at adults, they can be asked to do it afterwards. This activity requires the students to take their audience into account, choosing the more appropriate language for them while keeping the main events within it. Students will have to consider ways in adapting the language, both in the vocabulary chosen and how to explain events of an adult nature to a younger audience.
By requiring the students to write an overview of their article in only 280 characters they must summarise the key points, making decisions on what needs to be kept in and taken away. The students must use their literary skills in order to make the tweet succinct yet still follow a natural flow with correct grammar. Students have been given key vocabulary must be included in their tweet to ensure that they use sophisticated language. Alternatively, the teacher could give the students a range of world limits to put their summary into, such as 10, 50, 100 and 150. Each one will require the more able students to use language differently.
Increase pace.
While it is, of course, good practice for the teacher to model activities to students, going through examples with them before setting them off on their own, there may be times when the more able students will not need to listen to the whole explanation and can be trusted to work ahead on their own, at their own pace. There are a number of options available to the teacher in order to do this.
The teacher can walk around the class while the students are working on a task and, having gaged that a student’s progress is good enough for them to move on independently they can quietly let them know that they can work ahead and can ignore the upcoming teacher explanation and modelling.
Alternatively, when the teacher has asked the whole class to stop for a check in before moving on to explaining and modelling the next task, they can give the instruction of “If you can evidence #, you can work ahead independently”. The students who feel they are ready to move on could then show the evidence to the teacher; while this could be done quickly in some lessons, such as showing a completed graph, if the teacher feels this will hold up the rest of the class, they can announce it with enough time before the end of the activity for them to check each student’s progress before the rest of the class finish.
When checking students’ work before a lesson the teacher can use their work to determine whether each one will need the explanation or modelling at the start of the next lesson or whether the teacher could have a quick word with them at the start of it to let them know that they can carry on independently. This can be recorded on the students’ work, either in written or typed form depending on how it has been created.
When the teacher is recapping a previous activity in order to gage the students’ understanding before moving onto the next step, they can devise a quick activity on the board to enable the students to show their understanding, and when having done so can move onto the next stage independently.
Classroom rules and expectations can be established so that the students know how and when to approach the teacher in order to get the go-ahead to move on to the next stage freely. Routines such as putting the onus onto the students to notify the teacher will help to stop an environment where students feel they can stop working when they have completed a task from forming.
It is important that once the whole class are working on the next task, the teacher checks in with the more able students who are working head to ensure that they are on task and have the correct understanding of what they need to do to progress.
Classroom example 15.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 7 Citizenship.
Overview of lesson:
In this lesson on the European Union the students have to look at some of its rules. This information will be used to support arguments for the United Kingdom remaining or leaving the organisation in later lessons.
Activity given to the whole class:
In order to set the context, at the start of the lesson the teacher first elicits why rules are necessary in general life and instructs the students to consider the reasons for rules they have at home and at school and what life would be like without each one. This then progresses to the students doing the same analysis for the rules of membership in the European Union.
As this lesson may not be the first time that students have considered the need for rules, indeed this is often a topic that comes up at home, in form time and in year group assemblies, the teacher can do a quick oral check with the more able students either before the lesson starts, or at the start of the activity and, if satisfied that they have an understanding of the concept, the teacher can instruct them to move on to question 2 and on to the extension tasks below it without having to listen to the teacher’s explanation or modelling of question 1 to the rest of the class. The teacher can either instruct the more able students to work through the feedback session or join in and share their ideas to their peers.
Fill in the table adding a rule from your home and from school.
Rule | Reason for this rule | Is it a good rule or bad rule? Give reasons. |
Rule at home:
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Rule at school: |
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The rules of the European Union.
The European Union is a group of countries whose governments work together. It's a bit like a club. To join you have to agree to follow the rules and in return you get certain benefits.
Look at the rules of the European Union and write whether it is a good rule or a bad rule. Give reasons for your ideas.
European Union Rules. |
| Reasons for this rule. | Good or bad rule? Give reasons for your opinion. |
1 Each country has to pay money to be a member. They mostly do this through taxes. |
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2 Each country must show they treat their people fairly and respect their human rights. |
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3 Counties must let people vote in elections. |
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4 Countries must show that their economies are properly run. That means the government is sensible about the amount of money it spends and does not interfere too much in the way people do business. |
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5 Countries may have to make changes to their laws so that they don't clash with the laws of the EU. |
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Why do you think the European Union has rules?
The most important rule from the European Union is…because……
What should happen to countries if they break a rule of the European Union? Give reasons for your views.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
The teacher should check in with the more able students as they are working through both question 1 and 2 at an increased pace to check that they are on the right track.
As well as the more able students moving on at an increased pace, there are also extension activities at the end of each question, which they can work on alone or with other students who are working ahead independently (the teacher can move the students so that they are seated close together for this purpose). These extension questions are also open for all students to if they finish the main activity before the allotted time.
Question 1 extension questions:
The first question requires the students to predict through synthesis. In doing so they can be asked to consider how they and their peers would behave without any boundaries. The second question asks students to consider the relationship between the stakeholders in school regarding rules; some may make links between school and the wider community here. In justifying their answer, students must evaluate the existing system of creating rules at their school.
Question 2 extension question:
This question asks students to build on the ideas from the rules that they have found in the activity to create new ones using synthesis. They must look at the common themes within the rules in doing so to ensure that they both fit in with the ethos of the European Union and can be deemed as a “good” rule. In justifying “fairness” students have to consider their own beliefs and also how they can ensure they are seen as fair to others.
Part 8: Differentiation by resource:
More sophisticated sources and texts.
While an adequate amount and type of sources should be provided to all students when undertaking research, along with appropriate guidance on how to use it and what to look for, more able students can be given a wider range of sources and more sophisticated texts in order to allow a greater amount of independent research. These extra research options can be introduced to both expand the students’ knowledge and to increase the challenge for them in finding the required, as well as further information on the topic. The extra research options should be designed to encourage independent research and should not just be ‘more of the same’ as what has already been given, such as a list of extra websites that the students could use, as this will not necessarily result in more independence.
Teachers can take advantage of the ever-growing range of sources when opening up research options to the more able students. These include but are not limited to the following range of sources that are available online: books, websites, podcasts, lectures, interviews, letters, conversations, and broadcasts. A task given to a class, could for example give a website and a book for the students to research while the more able students could be asked to expand their search into a range of given podcasts or lectures on the matter. The sources chosen for the more able students could require them to use higher order thinking skills such as having to make more choices within them, having to judge their reliability and having to dig deeper to find the relevant information.
Depending on the age, experience, and ability of the students and the size of the sources, when a teacher creates activities that require the students to conduct research it should be complimented with directed questions to support them in the inquiry process. Providing more able students with the opportunity to undertake more independent research should follow this principle. The questions can be more open and more options to find the information can be given but there still needs to be a structure to help the students complete it otherwise students can become overwhelmed by too much information via an internet search and may not have the skills to know how to get started. All of the sources chosen by the teacher, including the ones to encourage more able students to undertake more independent research need to be fully checked beforehand, not only to ensure that they are appropriate to also to ensure that they require adequate information for the students to be able to enhance their findings.
In-class reading activities.
Reading for information is central to obtaining knowledge across the curriculum and the difficulty and type of reading material should be differentiated for all students so that they can not only access the curriculum, but their reading level and knowledge can be expanded in doing so.
Depending on the amount of available material suitable for the age, and the ability of the students in the class, there are times when the teacher needs to summarise texts for students. This can either be done by the teacher highlighting the passages that the students need to concentrate on within a larger main text or creating their own abridged version of it. In these instances, the teacher can provide the more able students with the original text exposing the more able students to its original vocabulary, writing style and length. Alternatively, if the teacher feels the original text may be too challenging it can be presented along with a more detailed edited version of it that has been given to the rest of the students should they need it.
When the teacher does not need to create an abridged version of the text that the students will be reading, they can provide more challenging reading passages altogether on the same subject with different activities to complete. Examples of this could be textbooks from higher year levels or providing different texts from the same organisation such as the main class reading from an article on BBC Newsround site while the more able students are instructed to read the main site aimed at adults. While these can be made available to all students who finish the questions and activities based on the original reading before the end of the allotted time, the more able students could be instructed to start on the more difficult reading. In doing so, the teacher is ensuring that a wider range of subject matter is being read by the class, with both being referred to in feedback session resulting in all students getting the ideas from both texts. This works well when the more able students are asked to read a different text with the task of creating a summary of it, which is then shared with their peers, either within a group situation or to the whole class, which could also lead to the class comparing and contrasting how the information is relayed.
Classroom example 17.
Year Group, Subject and Topic:
Overview of lesson:
Activity given to the whole class:
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Reading ahead.
More able students can be given reading on the subject the class are presently studying, or on a future topic, in order to read ahead.
Reading ahead allows more able students to create materials to be used in future lessons. They could be instructed to create a summary of the reading and either present it as a starter the following lesson or share it with their peers as a new source for them to use. If the teacher would like the more able students to create a summary, it works well to give the choice of how they would like to design it, allowing them to use their initiative in an area of interest. Ideas of how to make a summary include continuous prose, a set of bullet points, a video, or a Mind Map.
Another idea is to get the more able students to read ahead and make a key word glossary, explaining the key terms in the text that may be new to the class. The key terms could be shared with the rest of the students in the class before they undertake the reading, and throughout their work on the topic as a support guide. An advantage of this techniques is that the more able students are learning the knowledge before their peers so will be able to move on to the more open ended and higher-level thinking work during the class.
Depending on the course being taught, more able students could be presented with work from the next year group or key stage. If the course includes external exams, they could be given textbooks or past exam papers in order to prepare them for the future assessments. Their performance can be used by the teacher to guide future planning and lesson activities for them.
Re-writing sources and texts.
With guidance from the teacher, more able students can be given the opportunity to rewrite texts used in class to support students with educational needs, such as language and reading. This task can be given to more able students before the lesson to give them time to create abridged versions of texts to suit their peers’ level and needs as the class is progressing. These edited texts can also be used as entry level passages, giving the students an overview of the reading before they attempt to access it.
Depending on the design and focus of the text, the summaries created can also be used as bite sized revision chunks for themselves and the other students in the class. The teacher can amalgamate these to create a shared revision pack in the build up to an assessment.
Expanding this activity, the more able students could write summaries of wider school material for students with special needs, students in lower year groups, students in feeder schools and new students to the school. Examples include making overviews of school rules, subject curriculums, and club activities.
Classroom example 19.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 7. Citizenship.
Overview of lesson:
Rewriting sources is not restricted to written text. In this lesson on the European Union the students have to watch a video on the different parts of it and fill in gaps in sentences in their booklet on a handout to gain the main ideas on the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Council.
Activity given to the whole class:
How is the European Union run?
Watch the video to gain an overview. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eufLQ3sew0
Look at the information on each part of the European Union your “The EU Booklet” and fill in the gaps below.
The European Parliament.
This makes ________ and helps to decide how much _________the EU should spend. It also checks that all the other parts of the EU are working _________.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected every five years. Anyone over ________ from a member country may__________
The Council of the European Union.
This is where the European Union's big ________are normally made.
It's like a school council, but instead of people from each year there are people from each _____________
Who turns up depends on what the council is talking about. If they are talking about farms then the 25 ministers for farming would go along, one from the ____________of each country.
The European Commission.
The European Council
The European Council gives __________ direction to the EU.
It meets at least four times a year and includes the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the head of each _____________.
It defines the European Union 's __________ agenda and strategies.
It is involved in the negotiation of treaty changes.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
“The European Union is too complicated. It should be much simpler.” Do you agree? Give reasons for your views.
Should countries who pay more into the European Union have more of a say? Give reasons for your views.
“12-year-olds should be allowed to vote for the European Parliament.” Do you agree? Give reasons for your views.
Look at the video again and use the information within it to make a small booklet on the four different parts of the European Union. You can take the sentences that you have created above to get started.
The first three extension questions are designed to get the students to analyse and evaluate the information they have just found on the structure of the European Union, asking them to respond to opinions on it, giving reasons for their views. These questions can be opened up to the whole class in a variety of ways including getting the more able students to give their view and the rest of the students must then respond to it through a yes / no stations activity. The teacher could also set up group debates on them, with the more able students chairing them, giving prompts when necessary.
The fourth extension task can be given as a longer-term one. The teacher can set the task so that the more able students have to produce the booklet on the structure of the European Union at the level of their year group, which could then be used as a revision tool. Alternatively, to stretch the level of challenge, the teacher could get the students to design the booklet so that it is appropriate for different age levels. In doing so, the students would have to edit the vocabulary used, both in the video, which they are re-writing and in the text in their own booklet which they have just filled in.
Independent investigation.
More able students could receive an independent investigation task based on the topic that is being studied where they have to use different reading materials to the rest of their peers. The level of support given by the teacher can be based on the age and experience of the students, as well as the task in hand. It works well to give the more able students a choice on how to present their findings to the rest of the class, which will allow them to focus their work based on their interests or setting themselves a challenge of a new way to present. Teachers can collaborate with different departments to gain an understanding of the tools the students are using within them and allowing the more able students to use the same ones for their extension task, giving them important practice that will benefit them across the curriculum.
Classroom example 20.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 10 Politics.
Overview of lesson:
The activities below are given to more able students at the end of a unit on Politics where they have studied the electoral system in the United Kingdom.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Your task is to look in more depth at one of the issues that we have studied in this unit on Politics. The choice of issue is up to you and could be focused on the topic that you are most interested in.
As this is an independent investigation task, the choice of sources that you use is up to you. Look back on the sources that we looked at in class and use these as a starting point
The choice on how you present your work is up to you. You could consider one of the following:
A presentation to the class. If so, what technology will you use to show your ideas?
Create a video.
Write an essay.
Create a classroom activity for a future lesson.
Choice of tasks.
Look back at the design of General Elections in the UK and investigate the similarities and differences between it and a different country of your choice.
You can focus on one or more of the following parts to an election:
How often elections are held.
How the voting system works.
The people who are eligible to vote in the election.
Election day procedures.
The amount of time before results are given and the new Parliament, or equivalent, starts.
Is the UK’s security system secure enough? If not, what could be done to improve it? What evidence can you find from other countries that could help to increase security in elections?
What punishment should people receive if they cheat in elections? Prison? A fine? Community service? Investigate what happens in different countries around the world and explain whether the laws should or shouldn’t be brought into the UK.
Should people be able to vote online in the future? Give reasons for your views. Investigate if this is happening, or there are any plans for it to happen around the world and whether you believe they could be applied in the UK.
Each of the activities that have been given to the students ask them to look back at a topic they have been studying in the unit and then to undertake independent research on an area of their choice, which can be based on one of the areas where they would like to find more information. Each question is designed to take a part of the UK system and allow students to compare it to other countries in the world. The choice of countries has purposely been left as wide as possible in order to allow the students to take their research into the areas they would like to.
Extension tasks can be set whereby further information is researched or evaluated.
Depending on the subject and task that has been given to the class, more able students can be given the task to find more information on the topic being studied. The information could be used to further prove a point or hypothesis, or look for alternative ideas and situations to them, looking beyond the obvious. The further information should not be designed in that it is necessary for an assessment with only the more able students having the opportunity to find it, rather it should be information that it either used to justify, back up or refute the topic that has been studied in class and can be shared with the rest of the class for discussion. Additionally, the more able students could then be asked to evaluate the new information they have found.
Classroom example 21.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 9. History World War One.
Overview of lesson:
Students are looking for human ingenuity in the war including the use of animals, focusing on dogs, pigeons and horses. The task for all students below entails them reading sources the teacher has put together. The students could be asked to work through all three animals alone or in pairs. Alternatively, the teacher could get them to take part in a jigsaw activity where they focus on one animal and share their ideas with peers.
Activity given to the whole class:
Your task is to read the sources on the use of dogs, pigeons, and horses in World War One. You must make a summary of how each animal was used, including evidence from the sources in your answer.
Dogs:
Amount used in the war:
The ways dogs were used in the war:
Benefits of using dogs:
Problems with using dogs:
Case studies used in the source:
Horses
Amount used in the war:
The ways horses were used in the war:
Benefits of using horses:
Problems with using horses:
Case studies used in the source:
Pigeons:
Amount used in the war:
The ways pigeons were used in the war:
Benefits of using pigeons:
Problems with using pigeons:
Case studies used in the source:
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Choose one of the animals you have studied in the main activity and research the following information on them:
Did the way the animals were used change within the war? If so, what are the reasons for this? How did the use of the animal respond to new technology, different weather, and different battle terrain?
Are there any differences between how the animal was used by different countries’ armies?
What new stories can you find where the use of the animal either brought success or failed in its mission?
These questions ask students to undertake further research. The questions are built on the work that the students have done in the main activity but now ask them to either look into it in more detail, such as the changing way that the animals were used in the war, which ties in nicely with future work on new initiatives in the war such as tanks, gas and aircraft, or asks them to look for new examples to compliment what they have already found, such as further case studies on the animals being used successfully or unsuccessfully within it.
Part 9: Differentiation by independence.
Modelling is a vital teacher tool and is essential in helping to ensure that students are on the right track, from structured to more opened tasks. While it is essential that all students are aware of what is necessary in the completion of each task, the teacher can, when they are sure that this been understood, give more independence within it to the more able students.
It is good practice to have written instructions for students, both in classroom and assessment tasks. While it may be appropriate for the teacher to check in with the class at each stage of the work, they can also instruct more able students to move ahead at their own pace. While the teacher will still need to ensure that all are on the right track, the check-ins can be done less frequently and on a one-to-one basis rather than as a whole class. The teacher can also, when they feel appropriate, give more independence at the start of the task, instructing more able students to work independently from the beginning, including reading through the instructions on their own.
Teachers can give greater independence related to the amount of choice given to students within an activity, allowing more able students more choice on how they would like to both find and present the new knowledge. It might be, for example the whole class are given two research methods that they are instructed to use having been through them in class, while more able students can be given the change to branch out to use different, perhaps yet unexplained methods. Here the more able students are being given the chance to take risks and to learn independently.
When confident, the teacher can allow more able students more independence on the choice of task, how they approach it the direction they want to take their learning, how they would like to extend their own ideas and the format they would like to record their information.
Part 10: Differentiation by Most Difficult First.
More able students do not always need to complete the same amount of work given to their peers, or in the same order that the work is presented. If the teacher is confident that the student has got a solid grasp of the knowledge and understanding of the topic, they can be instructed to attempt the more difficult questions or activities first. This is an effective strategy that works well with skill-based activities after the students have acquired the correct amount of knowledge in order to do so; alternatively, some activities may be set up at the start of a new topic that do not need prior knowledge. This strategy allows the students to progress at their own pace, move to higher level of understanding more quickly and attempt further enrichment activities; a further level of provision can be for the teacher to give a range of options for each category from Bloom’s Question and Answers for the students so that they can focus on the areas of interest to them.
If the questions require background knowledge it is important for the teacher to check each student’s level of understanding before permission is given for them to attempt the more difficult first. This can be done through formative or summative assessments, the student having read ahead before the lesson (and perhaps presenting on it to their peers), the work being a recap where the more able student has already performed well, or a conversation between the teacher and student including concept checking questions.
Once the teacher is confident that a more able student can attempt the more difficult questions or activities first, they can go to the student as soon as the class start working and quietly let them know what they would like them to do; a quick underline in pen is a nice and easy way to do this, which allows the student to recognise the more difficult questions and activities that they should attempt; the teacher could also do this by highlighting the most difficult parts of the activity on board for the whole class, as they do not always appear sequentially. Alternatively, and depending on the design of the activity and culture of the class, the teacher could move students to ensure that the ones attempting the more difficult questions are sat near each other in order to allow then to attempt them together.
The teacher should pay close attention to the students who are attempting the more difficult questions and activities first and be ready to intervene if a student is struggling and who may need to be directed to an earlier question to better prepare them.
Classroom example 22.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 8 Geography. Coasts.
Overview of lesson:
This lesson is part of a topic on coasts. The activity below is a summary activity which is based erosion, transportation, and deposition, which the students have just finished studying.
Activity given to the whole class:
The activity is presented to the whole class with students being given the choice of which one to do unless instructed to do a specific one based on their previous performance on the topic. Some students, for example, may not have grasped how waves shape the coastline so will be instructed to do the knowledge activity.
The teacher, if confident that they have acquired the knowledge on the subject already, can instruct the more able students to go straight to the more difficult questions requiring them to analyse, evaluate or synthesis. The students could be given the chance of which higher level activity to attempt first, or the teacher could guide them on which one they should do, either based on ability or in order to ensure all of the questions can be covered in the feedback session.
Erosion, transportation, and Deposition summary.
Choose an activity—unless I tell you which one to do!
Knowledge: Write a summary of the three jobs waves do that shape our coastline.
Comprehension: Sketch diagram A on Page 55 answer the questions.
Application: Look at question 3 on page 53 and apply your knowledge of wave processes to explain what has happened to the stone.
Analysis: If longshore drift is not stopped what might the consequences be for the coastline in picture B on page 53?
Evaluation: What is a better solution to coastal erosion than groynes and stone walls?
Synthesis: Can you develop a proposal which would protect the coast against erosion but keep the natural beauty?
Part 11: Differentiation by Reflection.
Reflection, including self-review and appraisal is vital for all students in order for them to make their understanding explicit, evaluate what they have learnt and consider improvements to their practice through creating future targets. It can be split up into two distinct areas, reflecting on work and performance related to both formative and summative assessments and also to non-assessment related classroom activities.
Reflection can be differentiated to stretch more able students, by not only getting them to respond to the instructions of the specific task in question but also to look at the bigger picture and evaluate issues such as their approach to the task, the skills that they used and how the information they have gained can be used in future endeavours. Reflection gives more able students the opportunity to link their performance in the present task to previous and future ones not only in the subject they are studying also in making links across the curriculum.
Reflection activities linked to assessment for more able students should focus their thinking on addressing the requirements on the top level of the assessment criteria ensuring they are aware of what is required in order to achieve the highest grade and what they need to do in order to get there.
Reflection of classroom activities that are not directly linked to assessment provide an important steppingstone for students with the aim of getting students to reflect on their performance within them and to set themselves challenging and achievable targets. Reflection activities work well either for more able students who have finished an activity quicker than their peers, or for all students as a plenary activity. Reflection can take the form of written and oral activities. An advantage of oral reflection is that, depending on the design, the whole of the class can hear each student’s answer which can then be opened to other students to give their ideas to add their own experiences.
Classroom example 23.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 7, Form Tutor Activity
Overview of lesson:
The activity below is designed to get students to think about academic integrity. Students work in pairs to give advice to the imaginary students who are facing issues that they themselves may also be dealing with; the pressures of studying a foreign language, lack of time and worries over assessment results.
After each pair has worked through the examples, the class has a feedback session where different students can share their ideas on why the student in the examples is committing academic misconduct, and what the student should do instead of their current path.
While, on the face of it, this quick, form time activity may not look like one which requires reflection, it includes skills that students can use across the curriculum which are worthy of more thought. The self-reflection activity is given to more able students if they are finished before the allocated time, with the fourth extension question being able to be completed during the feedback session.
Activity given to the whole class:
Give advice. In pairs, look at the following examples and give advice to the student. Explain your reasons.
Example: | Why is this wrong? What should the student do? Give reasons for your ideas. |
Student A finds learning Japanese very hard, so he wrote his assessment in English and then translated it into Japanese through Google translate. |
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Student B is very busy. She has got a Maths assessment but also has to go to music club and walk the dog. Student B’s mother has offered to do part of the assessment for her to help her save time. |
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Student C is very stressed as she needs higher grades to keep her parents happy. She is thinking about changing data she got from a science experiment to make it fit her original hypothesis as she is worried that she has made a mistake somewhere. |
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Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Extension Questions:
How did you put yourself in the position of other students? What did you find easy and / or difficult about this?
Look back at your ideas. What further information would you want to ask the students in order to be able to give them more advice?
How did you react when your partner gave an opinion that you did not agree with? How could your approach to group work to ensure better results? What is the best way to come to a joint agreement when students do not initially agree with each other?
What piece of advice are you the most / least happy with? Give reasons for your answer. Having listened to other pairs, are there any changes you would like to make to your advice?
These extension questions are designed to allow the more able students to consider the skills they have just used in the activity, which, while not explicitly shown within it, are skills that go beyond the activity itself and the students use throughout their studies.
In asking students to consider what they found easy or difficult about a task it gets them to not only evaluate their performance but also gives them a focus on what they need to work on to improve the next time they do a task with similar requirements.
The second question gives the more able students the chance to review the information they were given and what they would need to focus on to get more information. Asking the students to consider creating investigation questions will also help them with future research tasks.
The third question requires students to reflect on their social skills. While this is only a quick task in class, it incorporates students having to work together to come up with solutions. A quick check in afterwards can help students consider what they did well when discussing ideas with peers and how they can improve their practice.
The fourth question asks students to rank the advice they have given, using their evaluation skills. It also gives them the chance to change their advice based on the ideas they have heard from their peers. Giving students the time to change their ideas based on that they have heard from their peers is an effective review activity.
Classroom example 24.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Grade / Year 10 Political Parties.
Overview of lesson:
Students have to work in groups to form a political party with the aim of winning a class election on issues related to life at school (ensuring that all of them have a vested interested in the policies). Each political party has to create a manifesto, speech, leaflet, and poster as part of their election campaign. After each party has given a presentation based on their manifesto a secret vote is held where students are asked not to vote for themselves. The winning party’s ideas are taken to the school’s leadership team.
Activity given to the whole class:
All students are given the following reflection activity which is broken down into the different areas of the task. Students have to consider what went well and the areas where they would like to make improvements for each part of the task. The targets that the students are asked to make for each section can be referred back to the next time a similar activity is undertaken. The teacher can hold a feedback session and make summaries of common successes and areas where the students would like to improve, which can then lead to further discussion amongst them.
Agreeing on policies for the Manifesto within your Political Party. |
Aspects of my performance I am pleased with. | Areas I would like to improve next time I do this activity (set a target). |
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Sharing responsibilities in the Political Party. |
Aspects of my performance I am pleased with. | Areas I would like to improve next time I do this activity (set a target). |
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Resolving conflict within the Political Party. |
Aspects of my performance I am pleased with. | Areas I would like to improve next time I do this activity (set a target). |
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Use of persuasive techniques. |
Aspects of my performance I am pleased with. | Areas I would like to improve next time I do this activity (set a target). |
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Using a style of communication consistent to the part(s) of the presentation I worked on. |
Aspects of my performance I am pleased with. | Areas I would like to improve next time I do this activity (set a target). |
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Structuring information on the parts(s) of the presentation I worked on. |
Aspects of my performance I am pleased with. | Areas I would like to improve next time I do this activity (set a target). |
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Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Extension questions:
What new ways of communication did you use in this assessment? How can you use the skills you have picked up in other subjects across the curriculum?
What oral communication skills did you pick up from watching other students and how could you implement them to improve your performance the next time your present?
How could you respond to the points that other political parties made about your manifesto in a way that better strengthens your arguments?
What design idea were you not happy about for your speech, leaflet, manifesto, or poster? What could you do to improve it? Can you adapt any of the ideas that you saw from other groups?
The first extension question asks the more able students to make links between the politics class and other subjects across the curriculum which require them to use similar communication skills. Asking students to consider where they can use similar skills in different subjects gets them to understand that while content in subjects may be different, there are skills and practices that can be transferred from one to another. It is a good idea for teachers to map skills across the curriculum, which will enable them to collaborate on the students’ progress within them.
In the second question the more able students must consider how they can not only learn from their peers but also how they can use the skills in their own practice. After contemplating this, the students could revisit the targets they had set themselves and adapt them where necessary.
The third question is asks students to think back to a previous lesson where other political parties responded to their manifestos, requiring them to give further consideration to how they could respond to opposing views. Asking the students to consider making changes to their initial ideas is giving them vital practice in editing work and taking on advice, while they may be used to doing this from teachers, doing so from peers may be a less practiced experience. This reflection skill will help students respond to advice in assessment drafts.
The fourth question get students to reflect on the work their group produced, rather than the skills that they used in the process, and to consider how they can make improvements. Again, it is asking the students to use the ideas of others to help them reflect on their performance.
Part 12: Differentiation by task:
Leading Starters and Plenaries.
More able students can be given the task of creating and leading starter and plenary activities. The teacher can support the student through advising them on the types of tasks that work within each class environment and how to set them up. The process of leading activities could be a step-by-step, starting with the more able students acting as an assistant before progressing to creating and leading them as they gain experience and confidence. Starter and plenary activities are usually between five to ten minutes long and it is a good idea for the students to design ones that are an established part of the lesson at first rather than ones they have not been seen or attempted before. This will ensure that the class is experienced on the format of the activity, allowing the more able students to concentrate on the content.
The activity could be given to the more able students to design as a homework task where they can provide a recap on the previous lesson’s learning with questions and activities not simply based on recall but also covering higher level thinking skills to allow all students to analyse, evaluate or synthesise the knowledge that they have learnt.
Whether the teacher or students are leading the starter or plenary, the tasks should be differentiated to meet the needs of both students with educational needs and the more able.
Ideas for starter and plenary activities that could be led by more able students include:
Create quizzes on recent learning. These can include true / false, multiple choice and ones to reflect the design of assessments in the subject.
Create bite sized recall activities such as gap fills and crosswords.
Create questions, from knowledge to synthesis, for pairs to consider and chair the discussion on them.
Classroom example 25.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 8 Citizenship. Employment.
Overview of lesson:
This is an introductory lesson on employment law in the United Kingdom where students have to read a range of sources.
Activity given to the whole class:
Lawful or illegal?
Read the text on the jobs children of school age can and cannot do and circle the correct answer for each statement from the choice of ‘legal’ or ‘illegal’.
Amardeep is 12 and works in a sweet shop. This is lawful / illegal.
Anila is 14 and starts her paper round at 6.30pm. This is lawful / illegal.
Michelle is 15. She works in a shop from 5pm to 7pm 5 days a week.
This is lawful / illegal.
Pierre is 16. He works on his dad’s market stall from 8am to 12pm every Saturday.
This is lawful / illegal.
Kai works 5 days a week in the summer holidays. He works from 9am to 5pm.
This is lawful / illegal.
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Your task is to read ahead to the text on Employers’ Responsibilities. You must create a 5-question true or false quiz on it that will be used for the plenary at the end of the lesson. You will lead the plenary activity. As well as setting the questions you must put your peers into pairs, go through the answers and keep count of scores. Please ask for help if you need guidance on how to do this.
Once students have finished the quiz given to the whole class they must read ahead and create a similar one ready for the end of the lesson. The more able students must ensure while doing so that their questions will not be the same ones that the whole of the class will do on the same topic, which are included on their handout for guidance. It works well to offer students help if required on running the activity, such as how to put students in pairs, quick ways to mark and keep count of scores, such as pairs swapping answers and writing the total on the paper.
Feedback sessions.
More able students can be asked to lead or assist the teacher in feedback sessions. An example is for them record their peers’ ideas. This can be done with the student making notes on the board or through digital means. Allowing the more able students to decide which information should be recorded gives them important practice in their thinking, organisational and writing skills, such as honing the ability to summarise information, concentrating on the key points that need to be remembered. The teacher can be on hand to step in if they feel vital information that is needed for future learning and/or assessments has been missed. The more able students could record the information on the same document across the unit, tidying up their notes for homework to make a summary pack for their peers, which could be used as a revision tool at the end of it.
Similar to the advice for starters and plenaries above, more able students could also be asked to design and lead their own feedback sessions. While starters and plenaries are easier to design in advance, the teacher could ask a more able student to chair a feedback discussion with little notice (which can be given as the students are working on the task). Here, the more able student could be in charge of leading the questions, choosing who answers them and recording the answers.
More able students can also be called on to give the answers in a feedback session including giving an overview of the process they went through to get it, as explained below.
Modelling tasks.
More able students can be asked to provide a model of good practice to their peers. This can be done through demonstrating correct answers and explaining their thought process in feedback sessions. As an activity is in progress the teacher can monitor the class and look for good examples that can be used at the end of it. The teacher can give the student advanced notice that they will be called up to go through their answers, or call them unexpectedly which, depending on the student may put them on the back foot, but works well with others; the teacher should use their knowledge of each student before deciding which way to do so.
Modelling tasks can also be done on a smaller scale, with the more able students taking on the role of teaching assistant. When more able students have finished an activity and their answer has been checked by the teacher, they can support students who have not yet finished it by either modelling their answer or by walking their peers through the thought process. Once the student has received the help from the more able student both can go and spread it to other students in the class who are still working on it. Through this process the more able student is empowering their peers both in gaining knowledge and preparing them to help others in turn.
As well as leading the starter, plenary and feedback sessions, the more able students can be used to demonstrate correct answers by the teacher. Each teacher will have their own systems for eliciting student answers such as hands up, no hands up, think-pair-share and a range of programmes that provide random student names. One other way is for the teacher to choose more able students to provide the answer. The teacher can then use higher order question stems from Bloom’s Taxonomy to get the student, and the rest of the class thinking. After the more able student has given their answer, the question can be opened up to other students, whether as a teacher to student question, or putting students in pairs to discuss their ideas, having had a start from the more able student. It works well here for the teacher to make a note of the initial student answer and write it on the board, which the others can then respond to.
Classroom example 26.
Year Group, Subject and Topic: Year 8 Citizenship: You and Your Community.
Overview of lesson:
Students have been studying the consequences of vandalism and in this activity, they must make links between them. This will help them understand the connection between people’s actions and how they can have a wide effect on the local area.
Activity given to the whole class:
Your task is to work in pairs and consider the effects of the negative consequences that vandalism has on the local community. You must make links between your ideas to show how the consequences are connected and how one can lead to another.
Possible consequences of vandalism on the local community (you can also add your own).
Example answer:
Extension activity and pedagogical explanation:
Extension Activity:
Your task is to lead the feedback session. You will have to present your ideas to the class who will then be given the chance to add their own ideas. You must be able to explain your links to your peers.
You will be called upon first to add ideas to your peers’ answers after they have presented. While they are presenting you must think of new links that have not been raised. You must explain your ideas to the rest of the class.
You must come up with questions related to your peers’ ideas designed to make them think more deeply about the links they have made and to challenge their original thinking.
This first extension activity asking the more able students to model correct answers to the rest of the class in the feedback session. The teacher can monitor the more able students’ ideas as the activity is progressing to ensure that they have correct and relevant information to share with their peers. Depending on the type of activity, the teacher could also let the students present ideas that could be challenged by their peers, requiring the more able students to have to justify them.
The second activity is asking the more able students to add original ideas to their peers’ answers. A challenge of a minimum number of ideas that they have to come up with could be set here.
The third activity asks the more able students to take on the role of the teacher by asking questions to their peers in order to get them to consider the points they have made in more depth. The more able students should follow the example of the teacher here by not criticising or dismissing any answers out right but by asking “What if..?”.
Part 13: Differentiation by outcome.
When planning lessons teachers should differentiate the learning outcomes in their lessons. One way of doing this is to consider what ‘all’, ‘most’ and ‘some’ students will be able to do at the end of the lesson. In doing so, teachers can differentiate the same strand, expecting more from some students than from all. An example is to move from the outcome for all students of ‘giving reasons’ to most students of’ giving reasons with examples to back them’ up onto some students of ‘justifying viewpoints taking more than one viewpoint into account’. In doing so the teacher is showing that all students are undertaking the same activity, but some will progress more than other and will have a different outcome at the end of it.
Teachers can also introduce extension tasks within the lesson that may only be undertaken by the more able students, therefore creating outcomes only for the ones who attempt it.
Here is an example of Learning outcomes and objectives from a Year 10 politics lesson.
Unit title: Year 10 Politics.
Lesson title: Should we bother voting?
Lesson Aim: To comment on the pros and cons of voting.
Outcomes:
At the end of the lesson all students can:
At the end of the lesson most students can:
Find views on voting relevant information from sources.
Support their ideas with reasons.
Take into account the views of their partner, compromising where necessary.
At the end of the lesson some students can:
When considering different outcomes, teachers can refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy’s Questions and Activities which gives a range of learning outcomes under the ‘Potential Activities and Products’ column in each section. The teacher can use these and can differentiate within them to stretch and challenge the more able and can use the work of the more able as models of good practice in present and future lessons, getting the more able to highlight key features of successful examples. The following is a list of ideas on how the teacher can differentiate the outcomes from one example in each section of Bloom’s document:
Section of Bloom’s Taxonomy | Outcome example | Ideas for different outcome for the more able. |
Knowledge. | Make a list of the main events.
| Put the list of events into the order of importance. Which event was the trigger to the main incident? Which event could have been stopped if the two sides had negotiated? Which event was inevitable? Which event only happened because of the event before it?
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Comprehension. | Make a cartoon strip showing the sequence of events.
| Make your strip without any language. Only include 20 words throughout your strip. Make your strip appeal to the under 5s / 5–10-year-olds / 11–15-year-olds / 16–17-year-olds / adults.
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Application. | Construct a model to demonstrate how it will work.
| Make your model out of recycled materials. Make your model out of paper / clay / lego only. Make your model for suitable visually impaired people.
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Analysis. | Write a commercial to sell a new product.
| Make your commercial audio / visual only. Compare your produce to (other product) in your commercial. Use models instead of humans in your commercial. Design your commercial so that it appeals to (include a market not traditionally associated to the product). Only include the name of your product after 5 / 10 / 15 seconds of the commercial.
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Evaluation. | Form a panel to discuss views, for example "Learning at School."
| Your panel must create a 5 / 10-point manifesto. Write a set of rules for the panel. Design a poster / video / speech to encourage people to contribute to / join your panel. Write an overview of the workings of the panel. Include how decisions will be made. Write an election process for leadership of the panel.
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Synthesis. | Write about your feelings in relation to...
| Where do feelings come from? What events in your life have led you to have these feelings? Can feelings be taught? Can feelings be turned on and off?
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Part 14: Differentiation by Support.
The teacher can take advantage of different times in the lesson to offer support to the more able students. One example is to talk to the more able students when their peers are working on an activity. During the starter activity is a good time to take the students aside to explain to them the ways in which they are expected to work independently and take on new challenges in the lesson. Here, for example, the teacher can tell the more able students which tasks they do not need to do in the lesson and give an overview of the differentiated work that they must attempt.
If the class consists of more than one more able student, it is a good idea to make one the ‘Lead Learner’ on a rota business. The Lead Learner is the direct link between the teacher and the more able students in explaining the differentiated activities they need to do and the tasks the need to complete in assisting their peers. This role gives the incumbent student valuable leadership experience and improves their communication and social skills. The teacher must make regular check ins with the Lead Learner to ensure that they are relaying information correctly, to check student progress, and to offer any support necessary.
Similarly, the teacher can appoint a more able student as a ‘Student Leader’ to summarise the instructions that have been given as the activity unfolds. This can entail the more able student going from group to group within an activity informing and advising other students accordingly. The timing of the Student Leader fulfilling their duties could be at the start of the activity if the teacher decides they do not need to do the first question, for example, or once they have completed the activity themselves giving them time to support their peers.
Part 15: Differentiation through grouping More Able Students.
More able students need to be grouped carefully, there is no one way which should be used at all times.
Putting more able students in mixed ability groups is good for their leadership, communication, organisation, and social skills. It allows them to take the lead and to inspire other students, both in the setting up and completion of activities. The teacher must not, however, rely on the more able students to do this throughout the academic year. There are times when more able students will work best when working together. This will enable the students to bounce ideas off each other, exposing them to new ideas to challenge them and extend their thinking.
Placing more able students in the same group allows the teacher to design the activity to ensure that they all have the chance of meeting the learning outcomes suited to their ability. This allows the teacher to design bespoke questions and activities and to ensure that the students can complete the extension tasks with peers of a similar ability. There may be times when more able students would prefer to push their peers and to receive a similar challenge, rather than work in groups where a lot of the responsibility may be falling on them due to their skills and abilities.
Part 16: Differentiation by Enrichment (breadth):
In school Enrichment.
Enrichment activities that go beyond the general requirements of the subject or topic that is being studied can be both worked on both inside and outside of the classroom. This can be a direct extension to the work that has been done in class or can be a completely new activity that is linked to it.
Depending on the design of the enrichment activities, they can allow the more able students to apply transferrable skills from other subjects as well as general approaches to learning such as leadership, self-management, and communication. It is a good idea to get the students to reflect on these at the end of the work.
Enrichment examples:
Real Life example: After a unit on the Voluntary Sector in Citizenship a group of more able students decided that they would like to raise money for Comic Relief. The group created the idea of a Charity Week and once they had planned a wide range of activities, they gave a presentation at each year group assembly outlining their plans for the week and explaining how all students could get involved.
When applicable, encourage the more able students to take action on the unit being studied. This could include making a presentation or writing a letter to the school council, school’s leadership team or community partner. Making links with community partners, with teacher supervision could result in them coming to the school to present on the issues which could lead to an established partnership.
Real Life example: In one school I worked at, the more able students made contact with the local police while they were studying a unit on vandalism. This led to the police coming to school to give presentations in lessons as well as inviting the students to the police station to report on their peers’ concerns and possible ways forward. The initial contact from the more able students led to a partnership that was still going when I left the school.
Encourage the more able students to join established clubs and initiatives and create new ones that can be related to the subject or topic being studied or based on a non-academic interest. Examples include the school council, Model United Nations or a department club. The student could, with teacher supervision, also start a new club at the school based on their own interests.
Real life example: A Polish student who was studying at my school in England wanted to support other students with Polish roots with their Polish language ability. The student created a lunch time club to teach the Polish language and Polish culture. The success of the club spread to her teaching non-Polish students with beginner level language skills.
Ask the student to deliver a classroom activity, or teach a whole lesson based on the topic being studied. This could be done as a recap activity on the topic or a presentation on how the student have looked at the topic from a new angle, using analysis, evaluation, or synthesis skills.
Real life example: I set up an initiative between the Secondary School I was working at and three local feeder Primary Schools where the more able students deigned and taught lessons to students who were due to join our school in the following year. Lesson topics ranged from a wide range of issues that had been taught in my Citizenship classes, including Rights and Responsibilities and Law and Order.
Get the more able students to track the topic being studied in the news and to present their findings consistently throughout the term. This could be done through message boards on the classroom wall or in corridors within the school, class presentations and updates, producing messages to be read out to forms across the school, or through the school’s website and social media channels.
Real Life Example: More able students in my grade 8 Citizenship class created a notice board outside of the classroom focusing on Protest. The board contained real life examples of protest from the local area, with information being found from local newspapers. Information on the board was presented in class before being displayed for all students in the school to see.
As Gifted and Talented Lead Teacher I worked with teachers across the curriculum to create both cross curricular subject and skill-based enrichment activities that the students used to complete in their own time. These tasks were based on topics the students were studying in their subjects, stories in the news and non-subject specific general higher order thinking skills. Ideas for the products came from the stems in Bloom’s Taxonomy Questions and Activities, discussions with students based on their interests, conversations with teachers in different subject areas and original ideas. These tasks work well as termly homework tasks.
In order to celebrate the students’ success, I held an end of year awards evening to celebrate the students’ work where they displayed their products with a written abstract. Guests at the evening included staff, parents, and representatives from the London Borough of Havering. The award winners received a prize and certificate and gave a presentation on what they had created and the thought process behind it.
Long term enrichment tasks.
As explained above, in my role of Gifted and Talented lead teacher I created enrichment tasks for students to complete over the academic year leading to an awards evening.
Link to curriculum: | Economics and Business Studies. |
Link to Bloom’s Taxonomy Questions and Activities: | Synthesis: Create a new product. |
Task: |
The Credit Crunch. Your task is to suggest solutions to the credit crunch. You must write a report which will be given to the Business Studies department.
Your report should include an explanation of What the credit crunch is. How the credit crunch started. The types of people and businesses that are affected by the credit crunch.
You should also: Devise solutions for the credit crunch. Based on reality. Invent new ideas that haven’t been used yet to solve the problem. Consider the types of people who would like and dislike your proposals Imagine you are the prime Minister. Write a speech saying how your ideas will beat the credit crunch and help British and World Citizens.
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Link to curriculum: | English and Music. |
Link to Bloom’s Taxonomy Questions and Activities: | Synthesis: Write a TV show, play, puppet show, role play, song or pantomime about... Compose a rhythm or put new words to a known melody. |
Task: |
A) Annie’s Song by John Denver. Listen to Annie’s Song. In the song, John Denver uses similes and metaphors to enhance our image of the person he is singing about. Through his powerful imagery he gives us a vivid image of someone we have never met and makes his love clear. Your task is to keep the same style of the song but invent new similies/metaphors to explain: Someone you love. Someone you hate. Someone who is funny. Someone who is annoying. A member of your family. Someone you hate. Someone you miss.
B) ‘Alright’ by Supergrass. Listen to ‘Alright’ by Supergrass. The song is a poem which sums up the actions and opinions of the youth of the time. Your task is to write a similar poem representing the youth of today. Consider the actions your generation does that other generations didn’t t. Write about the hobbies, activities, and opinions of today’s youth.
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Link to curriculum: | Maths and Science. |
Link to Bloom’s Taxonomy Questions and Activities. | Synthesis: Devise a way to...
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Task: |
We can me measure distance in kilometres and have the Mohs scale for hardness. Can we make measurements for everything?
Consider “hope”.
How can we measure hope? Create a scale that can measure pain. Explain your method. Invent a formula to describe hope. Write a method for an experiment to measure hope.
Try doing the same for: Laziness. Joy. Fear.
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Part 17. References.
International Baccalaureate. Approaches to Teaching, 2015, www. xmltwo.ibo.org/publications/DP/Group0/d_0_dpatl_gui_1502_1/static/dpatl/guide-teaching-differentiated-to-meet-the-needs-of-all-learners.html Accessed 21st April. 2024
UK Government. The National curriculum in England: framework for key stages 1-4, updated 2014, www.gov.uk/government/publications/ national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4/the-national-curriculum-in-england-framework-for-key-stages-1-to-4#inclusion Accessed 21st April. 2024
