15 powerful reasons to use doodle notes with your students

by Katrina | Mar 15, 2023 | Pedagogy

15 powerful reasons to use doodle notes with your students

I’ve always struggled to help students make notes that include all the important information, are easy to study and remember, and differentiated so they make sense to every student. That was, until I learned about all the reasons to use Doodle Notes™!

Doodle notes are a visual note-taking method that allows students to learn by creating visual representations of the material they are studying. These have completely transformed the way I have students record notes in my class and I couldn’t be happier. Students are interacting with the content, they are able to be creative, and they are able to visualise their notes when it comes to reflecting on them for examinations.

In this blog post I will share with you what Doodle Notes are, ways you can use them effectively, and 15 reasons to use doodle notes to benefit you and your students in the classroom.

Disclaimer: This blog post, ’15 reasons to use doodle notes with your students’, may contain affiliate links. Read full disclaimer here. Note: “Doodle Notes” is a trademarked term used with permission. Please visit doodlenotes.org for more information.station activities in the classroom

What are doodle notes?

“Doodle notes” (TM) are a unique visual note-taking method with built-in features that increase focus and memory by taking advantage of a collection of brain research. The brain converts blends of visual and linguistic information into long-term memory more easily. This form of visual note-taking allows students to remember and process new information more easily. These are great reasons to use Doodle notes alone!

The term “Doodle notes” is a trademarked term (used here with permission), and resources that meet the criteria as Doodle Notes need to have the following requirements:

Visual triggers or analogies specific to the lesson material,
Images that work with text to initiate dual coding
Space for student doodling and tasks for student interaction
Opportunities for students to add their own flair through coloring, drawing, and embellishing
Creative layout of text and images that are designed for brain-based learning.

The combination of these requirements make Doodle Notes a very powerful tool to use in the classroom.

Here are some examples of doodle notes below:

How to use doodle notes in your classroom

Being such a diverse resource, Doodle Notes can be used in a wide range of situations or learning opportunities.

For example:

Give to students to take notes during teacher direct instruction or exposition
Use during an educational video
Provide with revision slides to help students complete as revision
Have students complete for homework to demonstrate their learning
Allow students to bring a completed one in for use in an open book test
Use with a partner as a type of think, pair and share

reasons to use doodle notes in the classroom

15 reasons to use doodle notes with your students

So now that you know what doodle notes are and how you can use them, here are 15 reasons to use Doodle Notes in your classroom!

1. Increased Engagement: Doodle notes provide an engaging way to learn, allowing students to visually represent and connect the material they are learning. Doodle Notes are way less intimidating for students to start taking notes with than starting with a blank page. It helps students get started as there are many ways they can engage with the page.

2. Better Focus: Doodling while taking notes can actually help students focus on the material they are learning, as it keeps their mind active and engaged. It also allows students to take their own ‘brain breaks’ during their use. If they need a rest from writing notes, students can choose to color or doodle to provide their brain that rest time. Once rested they are able to re-focus again at a higher level.

3. Improved Memory Retention: Doodling while taking notes can help students retain information better than traditional note-taking methods. This is due to the visual triggers and dual-coding. Dual-coding involves using multiple stimuli that allows the brain to remember the information more easily and also retrieve it more easily later on.

4. Personalization: Doodle notes allow students to create their own personal connections with the material and create a unique representation of what they are learning. They are free to add their own drawings, colors, arrows and connections so that it makes sense to them personally.

5. Creativity: Doodle notes allow for creativity, which can help students think outside the box and approach learning in a unique way. This is even more important in subjects that may not be innately creative such as maths and science.

6. Accessibility: Doodle notes are accessible to all learners, including those with learning disabilities, visual learners, and those who prefer a more hands-on approach to learning. Every student can access them to their own level.

7. Fun: Doodle notes are a fun way to learn and can help break up the monotony of traditional note-taking methods. Students enjoy choosing which colors to use, what to ‘doodle’ on their page and how to interpret the visual cues.

8. Improved Comprehension: Doodle notes help students better understand and comprehend complex material, as they are able to visually represent different pieces of information. It also helps students connect ideas, content and examples together which helps students deepen their level of understanding. reasons to use doodle notes in the classroom

9. Encourages Active Learning: Doodle notes encourage students to actively engage with the material they are learning, rather than passively listening to a lecture or video. Even if students are only coloring the diagrams, it allows their brain to connect the diagrams with what they are hearing.

10. Improved Organization: Doodle notes help students organize their thoughts and ideas, making it easier to recall information later on.

11. Provides a Study Tool: Doodle notes serve as a study tool that students can refer back to when studying for exams or completing assignments. They are an excellent study resource due to the visual impact they have, as they are easier to bring to mind when trying to recall the information.

reasons to use doodle notes in the classroom

12. Promotes Critical Thinking: Doodle notes promote critical thinking, as students must think about the material they are learning and determine how best to represent it visually. This is one of my favorite reasons to use doodle notes!

13. Provides opportunity for assessment: Doodle notes provide opportunity for students to demonstrate what they learnt or understood from a lecture, class learning etc. It is easy for teachers to quickly assess by having a look at how students have completed the doodle notes.

14. Improved Teacher-Student Relationships: Using doodle notes can help improve teacher-student relationships, as it allows for more interactive and engaging classroom experiences.

15. Easy Differentiation: Doodle notes are immediately differentiated as students will engage with the material in a way that makes sense to them. You could further differentiate by adding extra or different prompts, providing a list of key terms, or providing some more scaffolded notes like cloze passages.

reasons to use doodle notes in the classroom

Conclusion

There are many reasons to use doodle notes with your students. Not only do they provide an engaging and fun way to learn, but they also promote critical thinking, improve memory retention, and provide a study tool for students.

By incorporating doodle notes into your teaching practice, you can help create a positive learning experience for your students and help to improve their overall academic performance.

Do you use doodle notes in your classroom?

What are your favorite reasons to use doodle notes with your students? Comment below!

Don’t forget to visit my store to pick up some ready made doodle notes!

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15 Powerful reasons to use station activities in the classroom

by Katrina | Feb 25, 2023 | Lesson Ideas, Pedagogy

15 Powerful reasons to use station activities in the classroom

As teachers, we are always looking for ways to engage our students and make learning enjoyable. One effective approach is the use of station activities in the classroom. Station activities are designed to provide students with a variety of learning experiences, all within the same class period. The benefits of using station activities in the classroom extend to both the students and the teacher.

In this blog post, we’ll explore 15 powerful reasons why you should consider incorporating station activities in the classroom. Whether you’re a seasoned educator or just starting out, station activities can help you better meet the needs of your diverse student population and make your classroom a more vibrant and dynamic learning environment.

So grab a coffee, get comfortable, and let’s dive in to the many benefits of using station activities in the classroom!

station activities in the classroom

Disclaimer: This blog post, ’15 Powerful reasons to use station activities in the classroom’, may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a small commission on qualifying purchases. This is of no extra cost to you and it helps me to continue writing awesome content for you! Read full disclaimer here. station activities in the classroom

What are station activities in the classroom?

Station activities are a teaching approach that involves breaking the class into small groups and having them rotate through a series of learning stations. Each station provides students with a different activity or task that focuses on a specific learning objective. Students work in small groups, with each group rotating through all of the stations.

To set up station activities in your classroom, you’ll need to first determine your learning objectives for the lesson. Then, create several activities that focus on these objectives.

Stations don’t have to be a lot of effort to set up. They don’t even need to be hands-on activities. A station could consist of a worksheet, reading a passage, or even watching a video. It could be all the normal activities you were going to do in a lesson, but rather than having the class do them at the same time you could set them up as stations.

Next, divide your class into small groups and assign each group to a different station. Depending on the size of your class and the number of stations, you may need to repeat some stations to ensure that all groups have a chance to complete all activities.

Some ideas for making station activities in the classroom run smoothly include:

Setting a timer for each station so students know when to rotate to the next station (I don’t usually do this as I like my students to move at their own pace, however, if you have students who dawdle or need help staying on task then this can be super helpful).
Put students into groups rather than letting them choose their own. I like to group my students so that my strugglers have some support from peers who are able to work more independently.
Set up more than one set of stations. My classes are usually upwards of 25 students. If I have a smaller number of stations (say 5) I like to set up two lots of these to reduce waiting time and crowding.
Have students take turns ‘leading’ the station. This may involve reading instructions, ensuring all parts of the station are completed, and ensuring the station is cleaned up and reset for the next group.
Set rules and expectations as well as consequences for what happens if they don’t follow them. Generally students really enjoy station activities, so ensuring they understand that if they muck around they will be required to sit back in their seat to complete the work might be enough for them to be on their best behaviour.
Make sure instructions are clear for each station so that students can start immediately and avoid confusion.
Give students a goal of what needs to be done in the time frame to keep expectations high.

Reasons to use station activities in the classroom for students

Using station activities in the classroom has some very powerful benefits for student learning. Some of these include:

1. Encourages Active Learning: Station activities allow students to be more actively engaged in their learning. By moving around the classroom, working on different tasks, and collaborating with peers, students are more likely to be invested in the learning process.

2. Differentiated Instruction: Stations can provide an opportunity for teachers to differentiate instruction and meet the individual needs of their students. Teachers can create different stations for different skill levels or learning styles, providing students with targeted activities that are most effective for them.

3. Differentiated Environment: Stations also allow for differentiation by allowing students to work at their own pace, complete stations in different orders, choose to sit or stand, and potentially choose who to work with. Providing this level of choice is also powerful in giving students ownership over their own learning.

4. Increases Student Engagement: By providing a variety of tasks and activities at different stations, teachers can capture the interest of all students and promote engagement. Students are less likely to get bored or disengaged when they are presented with a variety of options.

5. Promotes Collaboration: Station activities in the classroom can encourage collaboration and peer-to-peer teaching. Students working in pairs or small groups can discuss and compare their work, and help each other if they are struggling. I often also witness this not just within a group, but between groups. Students may check with the group that completed that station ahead of them to see if they also got the same result.

6. Enhances Learning Outcomes: When students are engaged, active, and collaborative in their learning, they are more likely to retain information and perform better academically. By incorporating station activities, teachers can enhance learning outcomes and help students achieve academic success.

7. Allows for Movement: By allowing movement, you are also allowing more oxygen to be pumped to the brain. This helps students remain focussed on the tasks and keep their brain active to learn new information.

8. Builds a positive vibe: This is hard to describe, but when I use stations in my classroom there is a vibe. Students are discussing the learning, smiling, working hard, enjoying different tasks, enjoying the collaboration. It’s a vibe. A great one.

station activities in the classroom

Reasons to use station activities in the classroom for teachers

9. Cost effective for equipment or supplies: If you have limited sets of equipment or materials for a whole class activity, then this is an excellent solution. Rather than having to buy lots of equipment, you can just buy one set of each and have students take turns at each station.

This is particularly helpful for myself as a science teacher as we often don’t have a class set of the more expensive equipment.

10. You can move around freely: Being able to move around the room rather than being stuck up the front allows you to witness students in the depths of learning, hear their conversations and participate in them, provide direct instruction or assistance as necessary, and even take the time to make notes for informal assessment.

11. Differentiate instruction and assistance: By moving around to different groups you are able to provide more differentiated instructions, information and help as students need it.

12. Assess students and provide feedback in real time: We know that feedback is most useful if it is timely. By using stations and moving around, it provides you with this opportunity to check student work and give feedback at the time it is needed.

13. Observe students working in different ways: It is a great thing to witness students learning in a range of environments and with different people. This can help you plan for future lessons in making observations about how long students take at each station, who they work well with, who is good at leading the group, etc.

14. Provides great opportunities for action photos: Take these opportunities to take photos of students engaged in learning. Use these to put up around the classroom, put in a newsletter article, add to the school website, promote your subject or even send home to parents.

15. Helps you build positive relationships with students: While it can be hard to get to know students while they are working at their desks, station activities in the classroom allow for you to chat with them more freely and engage with them more personally.

This is really helpful for building a positive rapport and relationship with your students.

station activities in the classroom

Conclusion

There are so many benefits to both students and teachers when using station activities in the classroom.

Do you use them in your classroom?

Please share your experiences below in the comments!

Don’t forget to visit my store to pick up some ready made station activities!

station activities in the classroom

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3 Ways to build student collaboration through teacher questioning

by Rachel Peach | Nov 26, 2022 | Pedagogy

3 Ways to build student collaboration through teacher questioning

Teacher questioning can take on many roles and many forms in the classroom. Using teacher questioning to build student collaboration is a highly valuable skill to learn.

This blog post, written by the highly experienced Rachel Peach, will share three immediately usable strategies that you can use in the classroom to build student collaboration using teacher questioning.

Disclaimer: This blog post, ‘3 ways to build student collaboration through teacher questioning’, may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a small commission on qualifying purchases. This is of no extra cost to you and it helps me to continue writing awesome content for you! Read full disclaimer here. common teacher fearsNew Science Teacher Advice

Benefits of student collaboration in the classroom

Apart from the fact that many of our syllabi require that we teach the skill of effective student collaboration, there are so many benefits for students if this is promoted regularly in a classroom setting.

Some of these benefits include:

Building communication skills
Learning to navigate various personalities
Improving peer relationships and respect
Increased retention of knowledge
Promoting critical thinking, problem solving and patience
Learn how to take on different roles in a group
Develops leadership skills

Knowing this, how can we build student skills in collaboration? How can we do this quickly and effectively in the classroom?

The art of using teacher questioning to build student collaboration skills is a worthwhile strategy to use as it is easily embedded into a normal lesson.

3 ways to build student collaboration using teacher questioning

Teacher questioning is the classic ‘go to’ activity to get lessons started and involves asking students questions to check for understanding. Teachers use questioning at this point in the lesson to remind the class of the learning done so far and they use the data from the responses to set the pace and depth of the rest of the lesson.

Tweaking the normal questioning routine with a few simple additions also promotes the development of student collaboration learning attributes.

1. Question – pair share – response

How to conduct a pair share response:

Ask your question
Allow 30 seconds for students to pair share
Elicit responses

Every student is involved in the thinking time and engages with the question. In this dynamic, students are using their strengths to share ideas and actively participate in learning from others.

After 30 seconds most students will feel confident to respond in front of the class as the risks of getting it wrong have been reduced.

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2. Mini whiteboard hovering

How to use mini whiteboard hovering:

Ask your question
Students respond by writing their response on mini whiteboards
Student hover the mini whiteboards with writing side down in front of them
After everyone has written a response and has their whiteboard hovering, students reveal responses by flipping their whiteboard up.

Every student is engaged with thinking about the question and has to commit to a response.

They practise the learning habit sharing their knowledge in a group setting and taking risks.

The teacher collects data from the whole class to inform groupings for the rest of the lesson and to highlight where learning interventions might be needed.

This technique also allows students to notice that we all need time to think and retrieve information before responding.

3. Brain Book Buddy

How to use the ‘brain book buddy’ strategy:

Ask a more complex question
Give students 2 minutes of silence to retrieve information from their brain
Then allow 2 minutes of silence to use information from their book
Then allow 2 minutes of buddy time to discuss the best response
Elicit responses from several different groups

Having given students time to think about the problem and then boost the quality of the response with their own notes, students are encouraged to co-construct the best response by working as a team.

In the discussion of the best response, students will bring their ideas and simultaneously support others whose responses lacked clarity or depth.

Conclusion

Each of these strategies are so easily embedded into any lesson with little to no preparation required. Using these strategies will enrich your students’ learning experience and help to build student collaboration.

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This blog post is guest written by a highly regarded colleague of mine, Rachel Peach. Rachel has been an overly-enthusiastic Science teacher for more than 25 years and has taught in London, Amsterdam and Sydney. Her passion for Biology started as a child exploring her grandparents’ farm and beach-combing with her family.

Now she specialises in facilitating differentiated, engaging and authentic learning programs for all students. Rachel is an expert mentor with the Modern Classroom Project and is the Assistant Learning Leader in the Science Faculty of a K-12 Independent school in Sydney. When she is not thinking and talking about pedagogy, you can find Rachel walking with her dog and daughters in the Australian bush.

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Using See-Think-Wonder to promote thinking in 4 steps

by Rachel Peach | Sep 17, 2022 | Pedagogy

Using See-Think-Wonder to promote thinking in 4 steps

In just 15 minutes, with just 4 simple steps, you can promote engagement, deepen thinking skills and develop quality questioning in your students. Using an interesting visual image and combining it with the visible thinking routines of ‘See-Think-Wonder’ and ‘What makes you say that?’ will give you a super-charged lesson activity.

Disclaimer: This blog post, ‘Using See-Think-Wonder to promote thinking in 4 steps’, may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a small commission on qualifying purchases. This is of no extra cost to you and it helps me to continue writing awesome content for you! Read full disclaimer here.

The ‘see-think-wonder’ methodology

The see-think-wonder method was developed as part of Harvard’s Project Zero research into thinking routines and the development of scaffolds to support student thinking. This is often referred to as ‘Visible Thinking’. The aim of this research was to guide students through their thinking practices by making thinking visible. These routines are applicable across all subject areas and grade levels.

What is the ‘see-think-wonder’ method?

The see-think-wonder method stimulates student curiosity by encouraging them to make interpretations based on observation. The routine involves having students complete the following stems: ‘I see…, I think…, I wonder…’

The SEE phase in the see-think-wonder method encourages noticing without judgement, sitting with ‘not knowing’ for a while. It encourages exploration of all the data – the colours, the numbers, the words, the patterns.

Pointing out what you have seen is low risk and allows participation by all students, regardless of whether they understand what the data is representing, or maybe even how it ties into the learning intention.

As a teacher it is important to model the thinking routine so I might contribute “I see that the scale for time is logarithmic” or “I see some drops in % survival of large mammals occurs over 2 steps”. Reporting back from small groups could focus on novel noticings that only one person saw so that you don’t use up too much time hearing about the obvious.

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The THINK phase in the see-think-wonder method encourages some interpretation and students start to make claims about the data before them. “I think that humans caused large mammals to become extinct” or “I think African mammals were less impacted by human arrival than mammals on other land masses” or “I think there are fewer large mammals alive today”.

Students can be prompted to state the evidence behind their claim if teachers use “What makes you say that?” in a way that shows a curiosity about their claim rather than a judgement of it.

We are learning about what it means to be a scientist! We observed and collected information on what we see, think and wonder about our classroom animals! ? #owlcommunity pic.twitter.com/q602nTcR51
— Alycia Bingeman (@alycia_bingeman) September 9, 2022

As students WONDER, they may start with simple questions related to unknowns in the image. “I wonder what H.sapiens means” or “I wonder what log kYA is.” This type of low level inquiry question is important for understanding and shouldn’t be dismissed.

However, class discussion following on from having shared the THINK ideas should lead into broader questions that push beyond simple interpretations and start looking at issues, ideas and connections within and beyond the data set. These might include questions for reasoning where students wonder about how the data was generated. “I wonder how this data was collected” or “I wonder how many species are represented by the percentages on the y-axis.”

Scientific questions about the validity of the data are relevant and welcomed: “I wonder how reliable the fossil record is” and questions about the connections between this and other information allow students to make links and bring new information into their personal mind map: “I wonder if climate change might have had an impact on large mammal survival”. These will engage students with new areas to explore as they move through this topic.

Using the ‘See-Think-Wonder’ in 4 steps

What to do:

Give out an interesting graphic, individually, in pairs or displayed on a large screen (maybe with the lights dimmed)
5 minutes (in silence): “What do you SEE? What does this make you THINK? And what does it make you WONDER?”.
5 minutes: Students share in small groups
5 minutes: Class discussion with “What makes you say that?”

Conclusion

Using this simple see-think-wonder visible thinking routine for 10 to 15 minutes has promoted engagement, thinking and questioning skills in a way that gives meaning, purpose and authenticity to the learning intention and topics being studied.

Will you try this with your class?

Comment below!

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This blog post is guest written by a highly regarded colleague of mine, Rachel Peach. Rachel has been an overly-enthusiastic Science teacher for more than 25 years and has taught in London, Amsterdam and Sydney. her passion for Biology started as a child exploring her grandparents’ farm and beach-combing with her family.

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31 effective student engagement strategies

by Katrina | Feb 13, 2022 | Pedagogy

31 effective student engagement strategies

Are you struggling to find effective student engagement strategies for the classroom that are easy to implement and actually work? This is the list for you!

I love that you are here because it already tells me a lot about you.

Firstly, that you love your students and want them to succeed.

Secondly, that you are willing to take the time to learn and improve your teaching practice.

Both of these are such admirable traits to have as a teacher and I am so thrilled to be on this journey with you.

So grab a coffee and relax while we explore effective student engagement strategies together!

Disclaimer: This blog post, ’31 effective student engagement strategies’, may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a small commission on qualifying purchases. This is of no extra cost to you and it helps me to continue writing awesome content for you! Read full disclaimer here.

These days keeping students attention seems to be more and more difficult. David Sousa (2015) says this is because they have become accustomed to task switching due to the overuse of technology and constantly having multiple demands for their attention. I have definitely seen this to be true in my own classroom.

So how do we keep students engaged in the classroom?

Here are 31 of my favourite effective student engagement strategies for your classroom:

31 effective student engagement strategies for the classroom

1. Engage with your students

Students will engage with teachers who engage with them on a personal level. They want to talk with you, laugh with you and learn alongside you. It is important for you to build positive relationships with your students. This will also help you to gain an insight into their personal likes and hobbies. This could also give you the opportunity to bring in some of those topics into your classroom.

This is number one on my list of effective student engagement strategies because it also has a plethora of other benefits. It builds student respect, helps maintain a positive learning environment, reduces classroom management issues, and makes teaching more enjoyable!

2. Provide choice

Providing students with choice allows them to take ownership over their own learning.

This could be chosen as a whole class or individual. This doesn’t mean you are planning 5 different lessons for them to choose from. It could be as simple as providing them a choice as to where they complete their work or who they complete their work with. It could be that students can choose whether they write out notes or take a photo and create an A4 summary page for the notes. It could be choosing between two digital options – Kahoot or Quizlet. For more ideas on how to provide choice in class see my blog post on differentiation strategies.

3. Provide a learning intention to set their brain on the path for learning

If students can’t work out quickly what it is they are meant to be learning then their brain will switch off. Providing students with a clear learning goal for the lesson helps their brain to identify it as important and adjust their focus. These are most effective if you refer back to them during the lesson to help students make links between what they are doing and what they are meant to be learning.

4. Provide success criteria

Success criteria allow students to see their own learning progress towards the learning intention or learning goal. As they see the progress they are more likely to continue being engaged.

5. Meet the students’ needs in terms of difficulty

If you are setting work too hard or too easy for students they will quickly lose interest. This relies on you knowing your students. But it also could be as simple as having a few easy differentiation strategies up your sleeve to easily implement at any moment.

This list of 53 EASY differentiation strategies is a must read and will give you even more ideas for effective student engagement strategies!

6. Provide opportunities for movement

Having the students get up out of their seats and move around increases the flow of oxygen to the brain and therefore allows for higher levels of thinking and concentration. Here are some easy ways to incorporate movement into your classroom.

7. Use brain breaks

Brain breaks allow for students to relax their brain for a few minutes to allow them to be able to return to full concentration. The best brain breaks allow for movement or peer-to-peer discussion.

For practical ways to do this in the classroom read my blog post here.

8. Pay attention to the ‘concentration curve’

Your students’ attention span is approximately their age in minutes. So if you are teaching 15-year-olds, they have about 15 minutes of concentration before their brain needs a break. Provide task changes or brain breaks BEFORE they hit the 15-minute mark to keep your students attention. This needs to happen at multiple intervals during the lesson.

Understanding how our students’ brains work is essential when trying to implement effective student engagement strategies in our classroom.

impact of effective student engagement strategies

9. Group & collaborative work

Students are always more engaged when they have a group to work with. This could include small group work or paired work. Collaboration is a key ingredient for effective student engagement strategies.

10. Allow students to peer mark

Peer marking can be a powerful tool to increase student engagement as students get the opportunity to see their peers work. The benefits are twofold. Firstly, when students know their peers will be looking at their work they tend to put more of an effort in to ensure they aren’t embarrassed. Secondly, when they see their peers work they self reflect on their own work in comparison.

11. Learning games and puzzles

Board games, online games, team quizzes, etc always obtain high levels of engagement from students.

Tarsia puzzles are one of my favourite activities and most effective student engagement strategies to incorporate into my classrooms as they are hands-on, promote collaboration, and are low prep. Just print and go! Effective student engagement strategies for teachers.

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easy and effective student engagement strategies

12. The element of surprise

Got a cool science demonstration or experiment? Try capturing their attention with some surprise demonstration rather than telling them about it before.

Starting a new unit? Decorate the classroom door or have them enter the classroom to a cool related song to grab their attention!

13. Digital escape rooms

So much fun and so many available. These are particularly good when reviewing or consolidating a topic. If you don’t have the time to make them yourself then you can grab some for less than the cost of a Starbucks from places like Teachers Pay Teachers or Amped Up Learning.

To see my best selling digital escape rooms for science click here.

14. Stations activities

Stations activities are one of the easiest and most effective student engagement strategies you can use regularly in a classroom setting.

Setting up station activities around the room has a much higher engagement rate than having students sit in their seats and just do each activity one after the other. The incorporation of movement around the room and more opportunity for collaboration means it’s a win-win!

These can also be done with minimal extra prep. Just take the activities you were going to do and put them into stations around the room with the materials they need for each station – whether it be glue and scissors for a cut and paste, colouring pencils for a colour coding activity, just an instruction card for an online quiz or video, or the worksheet you want them to complete.

It’s also helpful to add an estimated time you expect students to spend on each station.

15. Competitions

Sometimes getting students’ competitive nature out provides excellent engagement.

One of my favourite activities for increasing engagement while watching a video is splitting the class into teams and having them write down questions from the video as they watch. I then pause the video after each 10-minute interval and each team has a chance to ask the class one of their questions. The team that can answer correctly first wins a point. If no teams can answer then the team asking wins the point.

So simple to implement and very effective. The best of effective student engagement strategies.

16. Anything related to food!

Some of the easiest and most effective student engagement strategies are those that include food! If you can incorporate food into your lesson in some way, students will engage!

Examples might include:

modelling something with food, e.g. modelling a cell in biology, modelling ratios in maths, modelling sharing in a primary class with chocolate, modelling Le Chatelier’s principle with m&ms or sedimentary rocks with kit-kats
using it to sort students into groups e.g. all students who got a pink lolly work together
testing something, e.g. using jelly beans for chromatography instead of pens
a reward incentive or prize for winners of a competition

Note: please make sure you have checked for any allergies in your class before using food.

Food is always the best for effective student engagement strategies

effective student engagement strategies

17. Variety in seating plans

Switching up the seating plan or the desk structure can provide new opportunities for collaboration.

18. Changing classroom displays

Has your classroom looked the same for a while now? Changing the displays or switching them up to match your current topic can help students switch their headspace into gear ready for learning.

19. Outdoor lessons

There is something so exciting to students about having outdoor lessons. Maybe it’s a novelty but on a nice day, it is so wonderful to get outside with them and do some learning together.

I’ve found that setting strict ground rules for the outdoor lesson is key, with the result of bad behaviour being the whole class has to come straight back to the classroom. This has definitely helped motivate good behaviour in this setting.

20. Team teaching with another class

Sometimes having new students and a new teacher in your class can be very exciting for your students.

Yes, it might take some extra planning to coordinate with the other teacher, but it can also be well worth it. You could even do this a few times and alternate who plans or runs the lesson.

21. Hands-on practical learning

Try to include hands-on activities as much as possible. Students love them and it helps their retention of knowledge. Even simple things like using cordial to learn about ratios in maths can help students engage more with the content and see the application of it in real life.

22. Cross-curricular opportunities

Can you bring in someone from the media department to learn about cameras while learning about light and lenses in physics? Can you buy some paint and use the art room to learn about ratios in mathematics?

23. Guest teachers/visitors

Bring in an expert in the topic you are studying, whether it be an Aboriginal elder or a local scientist. These visitors can bring a wealth of knowledge and really break up the normal classroom activities

Guest speakers are excellent for effective student engagement strategies.

24. Virtual experiences & augmented reality

The introduction of classroom devices has opened up a world of possibilities in terms of the variety of virtual opportunities available to students including virtual labs and virtual excursions.

Augmented reality can also create unique opportunities in the classroom. Try searching ‘augmented reality’ followed by your topic and see what comes up! This one is augmented reality for the periodic table.

Technology allows for so many creative options when it comes to effective student engagement strategies.

25. Jigsaw strategy

The Jigsaw strategy increases engagement as each student becomes an ‘expert’ at one part of the topic and then has the opportunity to both teach others and learn from others. See how to use this strategy.

26. Flipped learning

Flipped learning involves the setting of learning for homework – generally a video tutorial – so students come to class already having watched the direct instruction. This provides more class time for hands-on activities, experiments, collaborative tasks, and tackling harder problems.

The best part is that it allows for more teacher interaction during the lesson rather than using valuable time for the ‘chalk and talk’. Flipped learning for effective student engagement strategies.

27. Online quizzes

Online quizzes such as Quizlet or Kahoot are super easy to implement in order to increase student engagement while learning key glossary terms and vocabulary. Both Quizlet and Kahoot have large banks of already produced quizzes which can save you a lot of time. They also offer different types of engagement allowing for both individual and collaborative competitions.

These types of activities are super low prep for teachers so they are always a go-to on my list of effective student engagement strategies.

Using quizzes for effective student engagement strategies.

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Here are some #edtech tools that have boosted student engagement + are data driven! @quizlet @quizizz @Quizalizeapp @PearDeck @GetKahoot pic.twitter.com/ttZsL2xUpz
— Laura? ✨ ? (@technologylaura) February 9, 2022

Effective student engagement strategies for middle school.

28. Scaffolded notes

Scaffolded notes that also allow for some colouring-in and ‘doodling’ on the page can help students focus their thoughts and processing of new information while also creating visually appealing sets of notes for later study.

29. Create classroom displays

Have students create something that can be used to decorate the classroom – posters, displays, hanging work, etc. Knowing their work will be displayed can encourage them to put that extra bit of effort in.

30. Make it 3D

There is something about making an A4-page 3D that excites students. These could be as simple as notes that fold into cubes or prisms.

31. Use a variety of activities

Try to use a variety of the above activities and strategies often. Students like variety and it keeps things exciting in the classroom.

Effective student engagement strategies: Conclusion

While I love all of these strategies, don’t try them all at once or you may get overwhelmed. Choose one or two that stand out to you at first and give them a go. Then come back to try a few more.

I hope you find these helpful in your lesson planning!

If you try any of the above effective student engagement strategies I would love to hear about it in the comments!

Make sure you join the mailing list so you don’t miss out on some awesome upcoming blog posts and free resources!

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References

Karis, D & Harte, KA, 2015, Why is our student’s learning here today and gone tomorrow?, STANSW Biology, Earth & Environmental and Senior Science Conference, Unpublished Presentation.
Sousa, DA 2015, Engaging the rewired brain, Learning Sciences International, USA.

Reference list for effective student engagement strategies.

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23 simple brain break ideas for middle school

by Katrina | Jan 31, 2022 | Pedagogy

23 simple brain break ideas for middle school

Need some easy brain break ideas for middle school and high school that don’t require extra prep from you? Look no further! This list of 23 brain break ideas for middle school are easy to implement and low prep.

So, grab a coffee and sit back and relax while I help make your job a little easier.

Disclaimer: This blog post ’23 simple brain break ideas for middle school’ may contain affiliate links. This means I may receive a small commission on qualifying purchases. This is of no extra cost to you and it helps me to continue writing awesome content for you! Read full disclaimer here.

What are brain breaks?

Brain breaks are short activities built into a lesson plan in order to allow students’ brains to have a short break from intense concentration so that their brain can continue to concentrate at a high level afterwards. Brain breaks lead to higher engagement and deeper learning in the classroom.

What activities make the best brain break ideas for middle school?

In order for the brain to ‘have a break’ it needs either movement or peer-to-peer discussion.

Movement is important as it allows for increased oxygen flow to the brain which is what will allow for students to focus.

Peer-to-peer discussion is important as it allows for students to hear their learning in their own voice and that of their peers. This is far more valuable than hearing it in their teacher’s voice.

10 movement brain break ideas for middle school

1. Throw a ball

Have students throw a ball to each other to answer questions. Once answered they choose who in the class they want to answer the next one by throwing the ball to them.

2. Collect materials from stations around the room

Rather than you handing out materials to students, have them collect from stations around the room. If my lesson involves worksheets, glue and scissors, then I have these in three different locations in the room to allow for extra movement during the lesson.

3. Rearrangement of collaborative groups

Having multiple grouping options means you can start the lesson with students in one group and then change groups which allows for them to move around and change seats.

4. Change locations

If you have the opportunity, consider taking your students outside for a portion of the lesson, or to another area of the school.

5. Convert a worksheet into a movement activity

Take an existing resource and change the way you use it. These are some of my favourite brain break ideas for middle school because they require minimal prep and obtain high engagement from students. Here are some ideas:

- - - True or False: Have students answer by moving to one side of the room for True and the other for False. If you’re tight for space, this can also be done with hands on heads for True and hands on hips for False.
    - Multiple choice ABCD: students move to one of the four corners in the room for each option.
    - Agree / Disagree: students line up in strength of their agreement / disagreement to a statement

6. Post-it notes

I love using post-it notes in my lessons. Have students write their question / answer / drawing on it and then ask them to post it on the board or another area in the classroom they have to walk to.

7. Gallery walk

Gallery walks are an opportunity for students to walk around and view each other’s work. Whether it is their individual work or an activity you have just completed in groups, this activity is no prep for you and allows for students to move around the classroom with purpose.

8. Seat swap

Mid lesson you could ask students to do a seat swap with someone. It may be that they swap with another student or that they move from sitting on chairs to the floor or to standing at lab benches.

9. Learning station brain breaks

Learning stations or activity stations are my favourite way to set up a lesson. These organically allow for movement around the classroom as students move from one station to another. As I am a science teacher and work in a lab, these stations are also usually standing stations. This also allows for more movement than just sitting in seats.

10. Invite students to come and write up on the board

Students at all ages love to write on the board! Invite them to contribute to a class mind map, add their vote to a tally or write any questions they still have.

8 discussion brain break ideas for middle school

Why is discussion important for brain breaks and learning? Because students learn best when they hear their learning in their own voice.

Here are some ideas and prompts you can use to promote peer to peer discussion in your classroom that require no prep from you! At any point in the lesson when you think your students need a brain break you can use any of these!

In partners or small groups, share:

One thing you learnt, one thing you un-learnt and one thing you re-learnt
One question you still have and one question this lesson answered for you
How you think this lesson relates to the previous lesson
Predict what you think the next learning activity may be focussed on
Something you saw, thought and wondered during the last activity
Personification of the content. This is a higher order thinking skill that allows immediate differentiation. Some examples would be:

- - What would a pentagon say to a triangle?
  - What would an adjective say to a verb?
  - What would a plant cell say to an animal cell?
  - How is a plant cell like a factory?
  - What would an ionic bond say to a covalent bond

7. Similar to the above brain break idea, ‘would you rather’:

- - Would you rather be a pentagon or triangle? Why?
  - Would you rather be a plant cell or animal cell?
  - Would you rather be an ionic bond or a dispersion force? (This one was great with my Chemistry class of year 12 boys who definitely didn’t want to be considered ‘weak’)

8. Peer teaching: take a small group of students and teach them new content then have them go back and teach their group.

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5 brain break ideas for middle school that combine movement & discussion

Want some brain break ideas for middle school that combine both movement and discussion? I have you covered.

1. Take 15 steps and find someone to tell 2 things you learnt

I use this one so often because it is easy, requires no prep, and is relevant no matter the content you are teaching.

2. Play scissors, paper, rock

Great simple game for revision of content. Whoever wins gets to ask the other a question related to the content. Students don’t even have to stay in the same pair. This could involve one round then find a new person to play.

3. Jigsaw model

This model requires students to change groups and peer teach.

4. Quizlet Live

Quizlet Live automatically assigns groups to revise content in a collaborative way. Each round changes the groups so students have to move to sit with their new group.

5. Inner & outer circle discussion

Students organise themselves into two circles and pair up with someone in the other circle. Ask a question or provide a discussion statement for students to discuss in their pair. After the allocated time, the outside circle moves to the right 1 position and so is paired with a new partner for the next question.

Conclusion

Planning brain breaks in your lessons does not have to be onerous. This list includes brain break ideas for middle school that are low-prep, easy to implement, and incorporate movement and discussion to assist students in their learning.

Have any of your own examples of break break ideas for middle school?

Let us know in the comments below!

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44 easy science differentiation strategies

by Katrina | Blogging, Pedagogy, Science

Science concepts are not easily grasped by all. Try this list of science differentiation strategies to ensure all students can access the learning.

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