When I went to teach my year 10s today (OCR Pilot GCSE History, second lesson) the lesson I had planned just didn’t strike me as having enough oomph about it, so I fished out something I used regularly a couple of years ago but haven’t for a while – the inter table quiz challenge!
Having started the lesson reviewing their homework (find me one more fact about the history of Swansea – bring in the fact and the source) by creating a post-it note timeline on the board, and having dipped into an unplanned (but hopefully useful) discussion about wikipedia, each of the five tables received four information cards about different periods in Swansea’s history and a sheet of A3 paper. They had 10 minutes to read through the cards and on the A3 paper make any notes they wanted. In addition they had to come up with five questions (and answers) to ask the other tables.
At the end of the ten minutes everything other that the sheet of A3 was cleared from the desk and tables took it turns to ask a question. In R1 each table asked the next table, round 2 the table after that and so on and so on. Although there are only five groups of tables by having groups create an extra question they have a backup in case one of theirs is asked by another group.
If the table you are asking your question to is able to answer correctly they get a point. But if they get it wrong or pass (they only have 10 seconds to produce an answer between them) the table asking the question gets the point. In addition they don’t have to give the correct answer, so they can use the question again if they wish.
It livened up the lesson a treat and got them thinking about the most effective ways to record and recall information.