Interactive Amplify (IA) sits at the Interactive row and Amplify column of the PICRAT grid. Below: real Science lessons for KS4 that classify as IA, plus anti-examples that look IA but are not.

Virtual circuit lab with shared results

Year 10 · 60 min · 1 device per student

Each student designs and tests three circuits in a PhET circuit simulator (a series circuit with two bulbs, a parallel circuit with two bulbs, a circuit with mixed series and parallel). They post current and voltage readings into a shared class spreadsheet. The class scrolls all rows and the teacher highlights anomalies, asking the contributing student to debug their circuit.

Tools: PhET Simulations, Google Sheets

Mock-exam multi-choice debate on a wall

Year 11 · 40 min · 1 device per student

The teacher posts five GCSE-style multi-choice questions where the wrong answers are designed to be plausible. Each student votes on Mentimeter. The class sees the spread, then in pairs writes a 30-second defence of their answer. The teacher calls one pair from each side. The class re-votes. The teacher reveals the official answer and explains why each distractor sounds reasonable.

Tools: Mentimeter

Required-practical method comparison

Year 11 · 45 min · 1 device per student

The teacher names a required practical (e.g. measuring the rate of a reaction, investigating temperature change with concentration). Each student posts on a class Padlet the one method choice they would make differently from the standard mark scheme, with a one-line justification. The class scrolls and the teacher pulls out the three most defensible alternative choices for whole-class discussion.

Tools: Padlet

Lessons that look IA but are not

Useful counter-examples when you are checking your own lesson placement on the PICRAT grid.

This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and key stage. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.