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Try these K-12 instructional
strategies! |
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Carousel Brainstorming:
Post charts on the wall with key questions or ideas
at the top. Groups are formed and one person scribes
for the group and adds to the chart as they
brainstorm. Groups move to a new chart, read other
groups’ responses and then add to the chart. Teams
may use a different color of felt pen. |
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Card Sort:
Students or teacher can prepare cards with terms on
one color and definitions on the other. Students
work in teams to find matches. |
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Circle the Sage:
The teacher polls the class to see which
students have special knowledge to share on a topic.
Those students become the sages stand and spread out
in the room. The teacher divides the remaining
students evenly into teams and teams send members to
different sages, (so no two members of the same team
going to the same sage). The sage explains what they
know while the classmates
listen, ask questions, and take notes. All students
then return to their teams. Each in turn, explains
what they learned from their sage. |
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Four Corners:
Teacher poses a question and gives four potential
responses and points to a corner for each one.
Students decide which they agree with or would like
to discuss move to that corner. They discuss the
topic with those who also move to that corner.
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Gallery Walk:
After teams have generated ideas on a topic using a
piece of chart paper, they appoint a “docent” to
stay with their work. Teams rotate around examining
other team’s ideas and ask questions of the docent.
Teams then meet together to discuss and add to their
information so the docent also can learn from other
teams. |
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Graffiti: Groups
receive a large piece of paper and felt pens of
different colors. Students generate ideas in the
form of graffiti. Groups can move to other papers
and discuss/add to the ideas. |
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Human Continuum:
Teacher poses a question or problem and students
line up according to their opinion on the answer. |
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Jigsaw: “Home
groups” with a small number students are formed.
Each group member is assigned a number. Students
move to an “expert group” containing others who have
the same number. They work on the same sub-section
get together to decide what is important and how to
teach it. After practice in these "experts" return
to the home group and each expert teaches their
section of material |
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Inside/Outside Circle:
Divide class in half. One group forms a circle
facing outward, the others find one person in the
circle to stand opposite, so there are two circles
of people facing each other. Information can be
shared and reviewed, and outer circle can move
easily to generate more responses or discuss new
information. |
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Number Heads Together:
Students sit in groups and each group member is
given a number. The teacher poses a problem and all
four students discuss. The teacher calls a number
and that student is responsible for sharing for the
group. |
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Pass a Problem:
Teacher creates problems for teams to solve and
writes or attaches them to envelopes. Teams read the
problems, place their solutions in the envelope and
then exchange with another team to check their
solution and to determine if they solved the problem
in a different way. |
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Round Robin Brainstorming:
Class is divided into small groups with one person
appointed as the recorder. An open-ended question is
posed and students are given time to think about
answers individually. Next, members of the team
share responses with one another, round robin style.
The recorder writes down the answers of the group
members. |
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Say and Switch:
Partners take turns responding to topics at
signalled times. The times will be unpredictable and
the person listening must pick up from their
partner’s train of thought before adding new ideas. |
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Send a Problem:
Students write a review problem on a card and ask
teammates to solve their problem. Teammates solve
and the question-writer determines if they have come
up with a good solution. Other team members repeat
the process.
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Talking Chips:
Each student is given a certain number of chips.
Each
time they talk they must submit a chip, but once
their chips are gone they may no longer talk.
Students must use all their chips. |
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Team-Pair-Solo:
Students do problems first as a team, then with a
partner, and finally on their own. By allowing them
to work on problems they could not do alone, first
as a team and then with a partner, they progress to
a point they can do alone that which at first they
could do only with help. |
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ThinkPad Brainstorming:
Requires students to individually brainstorm and
write down their answers on a sheet of paper. Once
they are all done they are to share their
information with a partner or team.
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Three-minute Pause:
Teachers stop any time during a lecture or
discussion and give teams three minutes to review
what has been said, and to ask clarifying questions. |
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Three Stay, One Stray:
In a group of four (or could be more), students
solve a problem. While they work, they send one
member to “stray” to another group to compare teams’
solutions |
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Three-Step Interview:
Partners interview each other then share what
they have learned with another team of two. |
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Think-Pair-Share:
First, individuals think silently about a question
posed by the teacher. Individuals pair up and
exchange thoughts. Finally, the pairs share their
responses with the whole class. |
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Think-Pair-Square:
The same process as think-pair-share, except that
partners share with another set of partners before
the whole-class discussion. |
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Two Facts and a Fib:
Students or the teacher write down two facts and one
fib, the job of the team is to identify which is
which. |
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Visible Quiz:
Teacher poses questions with multiple choices
responses and students sit in teams and discuss the
responses. When the teacher asks, they hold up their
answers and may be called on to explain their team’s
reasoning. |
