Can you solve the anagrams? Why play games in history lessons? – Nuf – Socuf – Beer Me Mr – Ration Connect – Angel Lech Why play games in history lessons? – Fun – Focus – Remember – Concentration – ??

Playing Games in History Ed Podesta

This session Very little theory Why play word games Examples

Common Sense Cloze The pub quiz Hotspot taboo Auntie Marjorie’s tea-tray memory game Recap-dominoes Random pickers - Spin the wheel / Whiteboard Raffle Who am I / charades / Source Auctions Saucy Sources

Why play games Games can make your brain work harder, and create emotional connections to content which help students retain it. It’s alright to play games, sometimes, as long as you know why you’re doing it.

Cloze “Common Sense” cloze, because students can use their common sense to play. Remove common words, not those relating to substantive concepts. Individually, or in pairs, students work to make sense of the text.

Cloze – take it further or in different directions TOP TIP - scan the text in and then use ‘paint’ or other app to blank out the words. Revision of technical words - Use a crossword generator to force them to marry up the answers and get spelling correct (

Pub Quiz There is some science here – Making it Stick Different Rounds – to help you split up material, but also to give them concepts around which to organise their knowledge. Can do in groups or as individuals.

Check others’ quizzes!

Hotspot Taboo Another focused reading tactic. Read the sheet and on another piece of paper note down any words that might be helpful or useful in explaining your topic to others. Collate a list of words on the board Volunteer has to stand in the hotspot and explain the topic, without using any of the words in the ‘taboo’ list.

Hotspot Taboo – take it further Add some challenge – they can add words that are not on the worksheet. Hotspot bingo – Draw up a list of words and phrases that you think they’ll have to use to explain. – How many of your useful phrases and words does the speaker use?

Auntie Marjorie’s tea-tray memory game. I completely stole this idea from Images / memory effort and repetition help students retain and to start to see links between factors.

You have 10 seconds to look at the pictures on the next page and memorise them.

What have these got to do with Elizabethan England?

What might link these two factors?

Can you find links between the rest?

Auntie Marjorie’s tea-tray memory game. Take it further – leave one out at the end of the lesson, play the game again and see if anyone spots it. Set it for homework – they have to bring in their own ‘tea-tray’ Use real objects.

Random pickers / Raffles

Who am I? Get a volunteer at the front. If you want to tweak the level of challenge then give them a clue card like this one. No peaking at the board, ask yes or no questions and guess within a minute.

William the Conqueror

Who am I / When am I Take it further – play charades with opposing teams. Great for revision of key players / key events.

Source Auctions

Great for considering ‘utility’ and for helping students think about planning a research strategy. Applications at KS3-5. Give them a set of ‘sources’, a key question that they are to investigate and a budget to spend on sources. They then have time to discuss and think about relative value of each source for the inquiry that they’re making.

Source Auctions – take it further Bidding – sealed bids or adrenaline fuelled gavel action!? Feedback is crucial here – why did they make those choices? – Which sources did the group agree on as being valuable for this research? Any outliers? – What if the question changed? Saucy Source Speed Dating – split the class into questions and sources – which are best matched?

Devising board games What are board games? What are the key things that we want to learn? Being clear about expectations: – No war or explosions! – Historical Accuracy – Teach us things.

Quiz Straightforward, but lots of detail, and focused on key issues

Conclusion