Art
Mixed-media digital collage with embedded media
Each student creates a digital collage on a chosen theme (e.g. memory, identity, place) combining at least three found images, two student-drawn elements and one piece of embedded text or audio. Submitted individually.
Layered digital painting with effects and audio
Each student produces a painting using at least four layers, three brush types and one effect (e.g. blur, distortion, lighting). They also record a 60-second voice-over explaining their compositional and colour choices, attached to the final piece.
Tools: Procreate
Photographic essay with annotations and music
Each student takes 8-10 photographs on a single chosen theme around their school or home environment. They sequence the photographs into a digital photo essay with embedded captions and a chosen music bed. Submitted as a digital artefact.
Tools: Adobe Express, Canva
Digital sketchbook of weekly observations
Each student keeps a digital sketchbook in Procreate, adding one observation sketch per week over a half-term (e.g. a leaf, a hand, a chair, a face). They submit the sketchbook at half-term.
Tools: Procreate
Reference-image collection in a digital folio
Each student collects 12 reference images for a chosen art topic (e.g. portraits across cultures, landscape composition styles, colour use in advertising) into a digital folio. They write a one-line caption for each image explaining its relevance. They submit the folio.
Process-photo journal of a single artwork
Each student photographs their work-in-progress on a single artwork at six stages, from initial sketch to finished piece. They submit the six photographs in sequence with a one-line caption per stage explaining the decision they made.
Live polling on visual choices with debate
The teacher posts three versions of the same composition (different focal point placement, different colour balance, different cropping). Students vote on Mentimeter for the strongest version, defend in pairs, debate, re-vote.
Tools: Mentimeter
Pair sketch critique via shared annotation
Each student photographs their sketch from the previous lesson and posts to a class Padlet. Three named peers comment on each sketch, identifying one strong technique and one area to develop. Students revise their sketch the following lesson based on three pieces of feedback.
Tools: Padlet
Painting interpretation on a class wall
The teacher posts a single painting (e.g. Picasso's Guernica, Hokusai's Great Wave, Kahlo's The Two Fridas). Each student posts a one-line interpretation of what the painting is doing emotionally and one detail that supports their reading. The class scrolls and the teacher draws out the variety of readings.
Tools: Padlet
Computing
Scratch story with sprites and dialogue
Each student builds a Scratch story with at least two sprites, two backdrops, and a sequence of dialogue blocks where the sprites take turns speaking. The story has a beginning, a middle and an end. Students submit their finished project to the teacher's class studio.
Tools: Scratch
Rock paper scissors on a micro:bit
Each student programs a micro:bit to display a randomly-chosen rock, paper or scissors symbol when the A button is pressed. They flash their micro:bit, test it, and play a round with a partner using their two micro:bits.
Magic 8-ball randomiser in Python
Each student writes a Python program that asks the user a yes-or-no question, picks a random response from a list of eight Magic 8-ball-style answers, and prints it. They test their own program with three sample questions and submit a screenshot of the running code.
Tools: Replit
Algorithm interpretation on a class Padlet
The teacher posts three pseudocode snippets on a class Padlet (a sorting algorithm, a search algorithm, a counting loop). Each student picks one and posts a one-paragraph plain-English description of what it does and what kind of input it works on. The class scrolls and the teacher highlights any snippet where students disagreed about behaviour, drawing out the difference.
Tools: Padlet
Annotated debugging screencast
The teacher shares a screencast of a programmer debugging a real bug (about 10 minutes). Each student annotates a shared Doc with timestamped notes on what the programmer did at each step and what they could have done differently. The class compares notes and pulls out the three most useful strategies.
Tools: Google Docs
Live algorithm efficiency vote with debate
The teacher presents three different algorithms that solve the same problem (e.g. find the largest number in a list). Each student votes on Mentimeter for the most efficient. The class sees the live spread, then in pairs writes a 30-second defence. The teacher calls pairs from each side to argue. The class re-votes at the end.
Tools: Mentimeter
Real-time multiplayer code-debugging
The teacher introduces a bug into a shared Replit workspace before the lesson (e.g. an off-by-one error in a loop, a confused variable name). All thirty students enter the workspace simultaneously. Each can edit and run the code. The class works together in real time to identify and fix the bug. The first student to find it explains their reasoning to the class.
Tools: Replit
AI pair programming with critical evaluation
Students prompt GitHub Copilot to write a Python function that solves a small problem (e.g. count vowels in a string). They evaluate Copilot's output: does it work, is it the cleanest approach, does it handle edge cases, what would they change? They submit a written critique alongside the working version.
Tools: GitHub Copilot
Live cross-school pair programming
Students are paired with a peer from a partner school in a different country. They share a Replit workspace and work on a small Python project together (e.g. a number-guessing game). They use a video call alongside for live discussion. The teacher reviews each pair's commits at the end and asks two pairs to present their reasoning.
Tools: Replit, Microsoft Teams
Scratch loops tutorial video before next-lesson paired build
Year 7 are at the start of their introduction to Scratch. Today is a 20-minute introduction to the loops construct before they build their own programs in next lesson's paired session. The teacher has chosen a ten-minute Scratch tutorial video that walks through building a draw-a-square program from scratch using the repeat block.
Students watch on their iPads with headphones. They keep their books open and jot down the four steps the video covers: position the sprite, use the pen-down block, repeat four times, turn 90 degrees and move forward. The teacher pauses the projector after the video and asks the class to predict what would change if the repeat block was set to three instead of four; the discussion runs for the last five minutes.
Tools: YouTube
Networking vocabulary Quizizz before hands-on lesson
Year 8 met the basics of networks last lesson. Today is a 15-minute vocabulary recap before next lesson's hands-on activity, where they will build a paired network model with cables and a switch. The teacher has built a Quizizz of 12 networking vocabulary terms covering devices (router, switch, server) and concepts (LAN, WAN, IP address, packet, protocol, bandwidth).
Students self-pace through the questions on their iPads. The class scoreboard appears for ten seconds at the end with no individual call-out. The teacher reviews the question-level analytics on the staff dashboard and re-explains any term that scored under 70%, before the lesson moves to the hands-on activity in the second half.
Tools: Quizizz
Binary number system chapter on iPad with short-answer quiz
Year 9 are revising binary number representation before the GCSE-prep assessment in two weeks. Today is a 30-minute reading lesson on a four-page chapter the teacher has shared as a Google Doc. The chapter covers binary-to-denary conversion, denary-to-binary conversion, hexadecimal as a shorthand, and a worked example of converting a denary number to two-byte binary.
Students read at their own pace on iPads. They keep their books open and copy worked examples as they go. After 25 minutes the teacher closes the doc on the projector and the class completes a five-question Microsoft Form on conversion. Live class results are shared anonymously and any question with under 70% correct is re-explained on the board.
Tools: Google Docs, Microsoft Forms
English
Multimedia book report with embedded research
Each student builds a six-slide book report on a class novel. Slides include: a chosen cover image with rationale, a character mood-board with three image choices, a key-passage slide with embedded student-recorded audio of them reading aloud, a setting slide with research images, a thematic slide with a one-line thesis, and a recommendation slide. They present to the class for three minutes each.
Tools: Google Sites, PowerPoint
Interactive poetry analysis with audio reading
Each student builds a single page presenting their analysis of one poem. The page has the full poem at the top, an embedded audio recording of the student reading the poem aloud, hover-text annotations on six key lines (with the annotation appearing when the reader hovers over the line), and a 200-word thematic essay below. They publish the page for the class to read.
Tools: Google Sites
Recorded podcast review of a class novel
Each student records a 90-second podcast review of a class novel. The review must include a thesis, two pieces of textual evidence read aloud, a recommended audience and a music bed chosen for the novel's tone. They submit individually to the teacher's class podcast feed.
Tools: GarageBand
Climate persuasive paragraphs with structured peer review
Each student writes a 150-word persuasive paragraph on a climate change action they want their school to take, in their own page of a shared class Doc. After 25 minutes, three named peers comment on each paragraph using a fixed prompt frame: one rhetorical strength, one rhetorical weakness, one suggested rewrite. Students revise their paragraph in the final 15 minutes based on the three comments.
Tools: Google Docs
Pairs annotate a persuasive speech for rhetorical devices
Each student receives a copy of a famous persuasive speech (one of Greta Thunberg at the UN 2019, Malala at the UN 2013, JFK 1961 inaugural). Their copy lives in a shared Google Doc. Using the suggesting-mode comment tool, each student highlights three rhetorical devices (e.g. tricolon, anaphora, contrast) and writes a one-line note explaining the effect on the listener. The class scrolls a master view of all three speeches; the teacher calls out two strong annotations.
Tools: Google Docs
Three short story openings, classified by structure
Each student gets one of three short story openings (an in medias res start, a frame narrative start, a slow descriptive start), allocated by the teacher so the class is roughly evenly split. They identify two structural choices the writer made and two effects on the reader, posting each as a sticky note on a shared Padlet column for that opening type. The class then scrolls all three columns and the teacher leads a comparison of how each opening shapes reader expectation.
Tools: Padlet
Coraline opening clip with comprehension Form
The unit is on writing to describe. Year 7 will write their own atmospheric story openings next lesson, but first they need a strong example to anchor the work. The teacher has cued up the first four minutes of the animated Coraline as a class viewing, then released it on the LMS so each student can watch on their own iPad.
Students watch the clip once at their own pace, headphones on. Then they answer eight comprehension questions on a Microsoft Form: four on setting (what makes the house feel old, the colour palette, the camera angles), two on atmosphere (the role of weather and silence) and two on the writer's craft (why the parents are introduced last, why the cat speaks first).
Tools: YouTube, Microsoft Forms
Rhetorical devices slide-deck recap before persuasive writing
The unit on persuasive writing started two lessons ago with a teacher-led introduction to rhetorical devices. Today is a 30-minute recap before students start their own writing next lesson. The teacher walks through a five-slide PowerPoint: one slide each on ethos, pathos and logos, plus two slides showing how a single sentence shifts when each device is added. Students follow on their iPads, with the slides shared via the LMS so they can scroll back as needed.
The lesson ends with a six-question Microsoft Forms quiz. Each question shows a short sentence and asks students to identify which device is doing the heavy lifting. The teacher reviews the live class results in the last three minutes and re-explains anything that produced under 60% correct.
Tools: PowerPoint, Microsoft Forms
Quizizz vocabulary recap for An Inspector Calls
Year 9 are halfway through their An Inspector Calls unit. Today's starter is a 20-minute vocabulary recap on Quizizz. The teacher has built a 15-question quiz drawing on the key terms the unit has covered so far: sociological vocabulary (capitalist, collective, philanthropy), Edwardian setting words (drawing-room, parlour, suffragette) and stagecraft terms (lighting cue, dramatic irony, climax).
Students self-pace through the questions on their iPads. Each question shows the word and four definition options. At the end the class scoreboard appears for ten seconds; the teacher does not call out individual scores. The recap exists to fix the vocabulary in working memory before the source-analysis lesson that follows.
Tools: Quizizz
Geography
Map skills with shared digital map pins
The teacher posts a shared Google Map with no pins. Students are each given a country plus a case study (e.g. earthquake, flood, drought, urbanisation). They drop a pin on the right country, label it with the case study type, and add a one-line summary. The class scrolls the populated map; the teacher highlights any pins on the wrong continent and asks the contributing student to explain.
Tools: Google Earth
Climate data analysis for two cities
Each student receives a shared spreadsheet with monthly mean temperature and rainfall data for two cities at similar latitudes (e.g. Lisbon and Boston, or Cape Town and Buenos Aires). They produce a comparison chart, identify three differences, and post the differences to a class Padlet column. The class discusses why two cities at the same latitude can have very different climates.
Tools: Google Sheets, Padlet
Population pyramid sorting on a class wall
Each student is given an unlabelled population pyramid for a country. They have to (a) classify the country's stage in the demographic transition model and (b) post their pyramid to the class Padlet under the right stage column. The class scrolls and the teacher highlights any country placed in a contested column for class discussion.
Tools: Padlet
Listening to a podcast on a country
Class listens to a 12-minute podcast on a country (e.g. life in modern Iceland, megacity development in Lagos). Students take notes in books.
Tools: Spotify
Reading a Bitesize geography textbook page on iPad
Students read a Bitesize page on population distribution patterns on their iPad. The teacher highlights three key terms at the start. Students take notes in their books.
Watching a Bitesize geography video clip
The class watches a 10-minute Bitesize video on river formations. Students take notes in books.
Tools: YouTube
Live satellite imagery of weather formation
The class watches live satellite imagery on the projector showing current weather systems globally, with the teacher pausing on a depression forming over the Atlantic, a high-pressure ridge over central Europe, and a developing cyclone in the western Pacific. Students observe the cloud movement, sea-surface temperatures, and isobars. The teacher links what they see to the textbook diagrams.
Tools: Windy
VR Google Earth tour of the Amazon basin
Each student navigates a guided Google Earth tour of the Amazon basin. The tour stops at six locations: the river mouth, three tributary junctions, two deforestation fronts. At each stop students observe the satellite imagery and the timeline slider that shows the same place ten years ago, twenty years ago. Pairs share three observations after.
Tools: Google Earth
360-degree street view of an Indian megacity
Students explore three preset locations in Mumbai using 360-degree Street View: Dharavi, Bandra-Kurla Complex, and the airport district. They are asked to record three observations per location about housing density, infrastructure, and visible economic activity. The class discusses contrasts after.
Tools: Google Earth
History
Source-pairing on the Magna Carta
Pairs receive two contemporary sources on the Magna Carta, one from a baron and one from a royal scribe. They highlight one fact and one bias in each, post both to a class Padlet, and in the plenary the teacher pulls out three contradictions between the sources for whole-class discussion.
Tools: Padlet
Interactive timeline of the Industrial Revolution
Each pair takes one decade between 1760 and 1840 and adds three events to a shared timeline (Padlet, Sutori, or a shared Google Doc with a date column). The class scrolls the resulting full timeline together; the teacher calls on three pairs to defend why their events mattered for the trajectory of industrialisation.
Tools: Sutori, Padlet, Google Docs
Voice-recorded source analysis on the Treaty of Versailles
Students listen to a 60-second extract from a contemporary German politician’s reaction to the Treaty. In pairs, they record a 60-second voice memo identifying two emotions in the speaker’s tone and the historical context for each. They submit the recording to the teacher.
BBC Black Death clip with Forms comprehension check
Year 7 are towards the end of their medieval England unit. Today is a 25-minute recap on the Black Death. The next lesson asks them to argue whether it was the most significant event of the medieval period. The teacher has chosen an eight-minute BBC documentary clip that covers symptoms, transmission and the social effects.
Students watch the clip on their iPads with headphones. The teacher pauses the projector at the end of the clip for a 90-second whole-class clarification (the difference between bubonic and pneumonic plague, the rough death toll). Students then answer ten MCQs on a Microsoft Form. The class results are reviewed in the last three minutes.
Tools: YouTube, Microsoft Forms
Tudor monarchs knowledge organiser self-quizzing
The Year 8 unit on the Tudors covers the six monarchs: Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary I, Elizabeth I, with Lady Jane Grey as a footnote. The class needs to know each monarch's dates and three key events before the timeline assessment next week. Today's 20-minute lesson is self-quizzing on the unit knowledge organiser.
The organiser is a six-row Google Doc table, shared as view-only. Students cover the right two columns with a paper bookmark and work through the monarchs trying to recall each one's dates and events before revealing. They mark their own progress with a tick or cross next to each row in their books.
Tools: Google Docs
Causes of WW1 slide-deck recap before source work
Year 9 have been studying the causes of the First World War for three lessons. Today is a 25-minute recap before next lesson, when they will analyse a German political cartoon as a source. The teacher walks through a six-slide PowerPoint covering the four MAIN causes (Militarism, Alliances, Imperialism, Nationalism) plus the assassination as the trigger.
The deck is shared on the LMS. Each slide includes one date, one statistic and one image. Students follow on their iPads and copy a one-line summary of each cause into their exercise books. The teacher checks summaries by walking the room in the last five minutes.
Tools: PowerPoint
Maths
Coordinates plotting on a shared whiteboard
Each student gets their own frame of a shared class Jamboard with an empty four-quadrant grid. The teacher dictates the vertices of a shape one at a time (e.g. (3,2), (-1,4), (-2,-3), (5,-1)). Students plot and connect on their own frame. The class scrolls all thirty frames in plenary; the teacher highlights any frame where a vertex landed in the wrong quadrant and asks the student to re-state the rule.
Tools: Jamboard
Algebra equation race with class scoreboard
Students answer randomly-generated linear equations at their own pace through a Quizizz set. The class scoreboard projects on the front display, updating live. Every five minutes the teacher pauses, points out the two equation types causing the most class-wide misses, and asks two students to walk through their reasoning out loud.
Tools: Quizizz, Google Sheets
Probability prediction game with simulator
The teacher poses three probability scenarios (e.g. five coin flips in a row, two dice rolling double sixes, drawing two aces from a shuffled deck). Each student commits to a prediction on a class Padlet before the simulator runs. The PhET probability simulator runs each scenario one thousand times. Students compare their predictions to the empirical results and post a one-line revision of their intuition.
Tools: PhET Simulations, Padlet
Walkthrough of multiplying fractions on PowerPoint
The class is at the start of a fractions unit. Today is a 35-minute teacher-led demonstration before next lesson's independent practice. The teacher has built a 12-slide PowerPoint with five worked examples of fraction multiplication, each one slightly more complex than the last (proper times proper, proper times improper, mixed times proper, simplifying first, then a word problem).
The deck is shared on the LMS. Students follow on their iPads while the teacher narrates each step. After each worked example, the next slide shows a similar question with the workings hidden; students attempt it in their books before the teacher reveals the answer. The lesson is essentially a guided demonstration the students can scroll back through later.
Tools: PowerPoint
Quizizz times-tables fluency starter
Year 8 maintain times-tables fluency throughout KS3. Today's 10-minute starter is a Quizizz of 30 mixed times-tables questions, drawn from the four-times-table through to the twelves. The teacher built the quiz at the start of the year and reuses it as a low-stakes fluency check fortnightly.
Students log in, work through at their own pace and compete against themselves to beat a personal best. The class scoreboard shows for ten seconds at the end. The teacher uses the question-level analytics on the staff dashboard to spot which times-table needs more rehearsal, but the dashboard stays on the staff side. Individual scores are not shared with the class.
Tools: Quizizz
Pythagoras worked-solutions video with comprehension check
Year 9 met Pythagoras' theorem last lesson. Today is a recap before independent practice. The teacher has chosen a 12-minute video from a curriculum-aligned channel that walks through three worked solutions: a simple right-triangle, a triangle with a calculator answer needing rounding, and a real-world problem (a ladder leaning against a wall).
Students watch on their iPads. Pausing and rewinding is encouraged. The video ends with a five-question Microsoft Form: identify the hypotenuse from a sketch, choose the correct equation for a given triangle, and round a final answer to one decimal place. The teacher reviews the live class results in the last two minutes and re-explains the rounding question if needed.
Tools: YouTube, Microsoft Forms
Mfl
Vocab clusters on a Jamboard
Each student gets a stack of digital flashcards on their own Jamboard frame, with target-language words on one side and English on the other. They drag each card into one of four theme columns (food, family, school, hobbies). The class scrolls all frames; the teacher highlights any word that landed in different columns across students and asks for justification.
Tools: Jamboard
Target-language short answers in shared Doc
The teacher posts ten target-language questions in a shared class Doc. Each student writes their answer to each question on their own line. The teacher highlights live as students submit, calling out common error patterns and asking two students to revise their answers based on the feedback.
Tools: Google Docs
Voice memos in target language to class wall
The teacher posts five short prompts in target language. Each student records a 20-second voice memo answering each prompt in target language and posts to a class Padlet. The class listens to a sample of each prompt's responses and labels strongest pronunciation features (stress, intonation, vowel quality).
Tools: Padlet
Moderated language exchange with native speakers
Each student is paired with a peer in a target-language country through a school-moderated platform. They exchange a sequence of asynchronous voice memos and short videos over six weeks, with one live video call midway. The teacher reviews messages weekly for safety and language progression.
Tools: Microsoft Teams
Co-authored cultural photo essay with partner school
A class partners with a class in a target-language country. Together they build a single shared photo essay on cultural similarities and differences (food, school day, family rhythm, weekend life). Each student contributes one photo plus a 50-word target-language caption; their partner-school peer responds with a comparison. The essay publishes as a co-authored web page across both classes.
Tools: Google Sites, Microsoft Teams
Live target-language debate competition between schools
A class hosts a live debate competition in target language with a partner school in another country. Two teams of three argue a position (e.g. "school uniform should be abolished"); native-speaker peers argue the opposite. Teacher-judges on both sides give feedback. The class watches the full debate live and votes on the strongest case made.
Tools: Microsoft Teams
Listening to a target-language podcast with comprehension form
Students listen to a five-minute podcast clip in the target language. The teacher plays it twice. Students answer six comprehension questions on a Microsoft Form.
Tools: Spotify, Microsoft Forms
Reading a target-language text on iPad with end-of-lesson quiz
Students read a 250-word text in the target language on their iPad about a teenager's daily routine. The teacher pre-teaches three new vocabulary items at the start. After 25 minutes of reading, students complete a five-question multiple-choice comprehension Form.
Tools: Microsoft Forms
Watching a target-language vlog with comprehension worksheet
The class watches a vlog from a teenager in a target-language country (e.g. Spanish from Madrid, French from Quebec, Mandarin from Taipei). The vlog is 5 minutes long. Students complete a paper comprehension worksheet afterwards with eight questions in the target language.
Tools: YouTube
Music
Beat programming in a step sequencer
Each student programs a 16-step beat using kick, snare and hi-hat samples in a step sequencer. The beat must have a four-on-the-floor feel and a clear backbeat. They export and submit.
Tools: GarageBand
Composing a 30-second melody in GarageBand
Each student composes a 30-second original melody using the virtual piano in GarageBand. The melody must use four distinct pitches and have a clear rhythmic pattern. Students export to mp3 and submit.
Tools: GarageBand
Vocal layers for a simple round
Each student records four sequential layers of their own voice singing the parts of a simple round (e.g. Frere Jacques) on a multitrack DAW. They mix the levels and export.
Tools: Soundtrap, GarageBand
Class soundscape construction with shared timeline
The class collaboratively builds a 90-second soundscape on one shared Soundtrap session. Each student adds one sound to a designated time-window of the timeline (e.g. forest morning sounds: birds, wind, footsteps). The class plays back the full composition together and discusses what could be tightened.
Tools: Soundtrap
Live polling on melodic choice with debate
The teacher plays three different melodic versions of the same opening (e.g. three different ways to harmonise a folk-song chorus). Students vote on Mentimeter for which they prefer, defend in pairs, debate, re-vote.
Tools: Mentimeter
Pair composition critique with shared annotations
Each student posts their 30-second composition to a class Padlet column with a one-line description of their compositional choice. Three named peers listen to each composition and post a one-line critique focused on harmony, rhythm or texture. Students revise based on three pieces of feedback.
Pe
Peer video review of athletic technique
In pairs, students film each other performing a chosen athletic technique (e.g. a tennis serve, a netball pass, a high jump approach). They each post their own video to a class Padlet column for that technique. Students then watch three classmates' videos and post a one-line annotation about technique on each. The teacher samples annotations and identifies common patterns.
Tools: Padlet
Pulse-rate data collection across class
Each student records their resting pulse rate, then their pulse after 30 seconds of jumping jacks, then again after one minute of recovery. They post all three values to a shared class spreadsheet. The class scrolls and the teacher discusses class-wide patterns (range of resting rates, recovery rate variability).
Tools: Google Sheets
Tactics analysis on shared formation diagrams
Each student gets a Jamboard frame with the same blank pitch diagram (e.g. football, basketball or netball). They draw a formation that they think is most effective for a particular game scenario the teacher poses (e.g. defending a one-goal lead with five minutes to go). The class scrolls all formations and the teacher highlights the strongest tactical reasoning.
Tools: Jamboard
Pshe
Live polling on bullying scenarios with debate
The teacher poses a bullying scenario where a friend witnesses unkind behaviour. Students vote on Mentimeter for the most likely friend response among three options. The class sees the spread, then in pairs writes a 30-second defence of what the right response would be. The teacher facilitates discussion. The class re-votes.
Tools: Mentimeter
Moral dilemma reasoning on a shared wall
The teacher posts a moral dilemma scenario (e.g. you find a wallet with cash and an ID; what do you do?). Each student posts their reasoning on a class Padlet, including what factors they weighed. The class scrolls and the teacher highlights where reasoning converges and diverges.
Tools: Padlet
Pairs analyse conflicting health advice
The teacher posts three contrasting pieces of advice on a health topic (e.g. sleep duration, screen time, sugar intake) drawn from different sources (NHS, social media, a celebrity). Each student picks one piece, evaluates its credibility on a class Padlet, and posts their judgement. The class compares evaluations.
Tools: Padlet
Re
Pairs interpret a religious text on a class wall
The teacher posts a single short extract from a religious text (e.g. the Sermon on the Mount, a verse from the Quran, a Buddhist sutra). Each student posts their interpretation in their own words to a class Padlet. The class scrolls all interpretations and the teacher draws out where readings agree, diverge, and reflect the student's own context.
Tools: Padlet
Comparative prayer practice annotation
Each student gets a Jamboard frame with descriptions of three different prayer or meditation practices (e.g. Islamic salah, Christian Lord's Prayer, Buddhist meditation). They annotate similarities and differences across the three. The class scrolls all frames and the teacher highlights patterns in what students notice.
Tools: Jamboard
Live ethics polling with class debate
The teacher posts a contested ethical scenario (e.g. is it ever right to break a promise?, should we forgive someone who has not apologised?). Students vote on Mentimeter for one of three positions. The class sees the live spread, then in pairs writes a 30-second defence. The teacher calls one pair from each side to argue, including one religious-perspective position. The class re-votes.
Tools: Mentimeter
Science
Ecosystem food web building, class merge
Each student is given five organisms from a shared habitat (e.g. a temperate woodland). They build a partial food web on their own Jamboard frame. In the second half of the lesson, the class merges all frames into a single class web; the teacher highlights cross-web species (those that appear in multiple students' webs) and asks the class what role they likely play.
Tools: Jamboard
Forces investigation with shared spreadsheet
Students conduct a basic spring extension experiment at their bench. Each student enters their three measurements into a shared class spreadsheet. The class scrolls all thirty rows; the teacher highlights outliers and asks the contributing student to explain whether the outlier reveals a measurement error or a real effect. Pairs then plot the class average against load.
Tools: Google Sheets
Periodic table sorting on a shared Padlet
Each student is assigned three elements (e.g. by row in a register list). They post each element to one of three Padlet columns (metal, non-metal, metalloid) with a one-line property justification. The class scrolls and the teacher pulls out any element that landed in the wrong column, asking the contributing student to defend before the class corrects.
Tools: Padlet
Drag-and-drop labelling of a cell organelle diagram
Each student drags labels onto a digital cell diagram, matching each label (nucleus, mitochondrion, ribosome, etc.) to its organelle. After submission, the tool reveals correct positions.
Multiple-choice cell-structure quiz on Microsoft Forms
Students answer ten multiple-choice questions on cell organelle functions in a Microsoft Form. Each pupil sees the same ten questions in the same order. The teacher reviews aggregate results in the next lesson.
Tools: Microsoft Forms
Building atoms by dragging electrons in a chemistry simulator
Students drag electrons onto an atomic structure diagram for the first ten elements. They submit a screenshot of each correctly-built atom to the teacher. The simulator does not give in-line corrective feedback; it just renders what they place.
Tools: PhET Simulations
Audio-narrated science walk-through
Each student listens to a teacher-recorded audio walk-through of a new science concept (e.g. how the heart pumps blood) with embedded sound cues (heartbeat samples, water flow analogies for blood movement). The audio pauses for self-paced reflection at three points.
Tools: Seesaw
Adaptive Seneca science learning
Each student works through a Seneca science topic at their own pace. The platform adjusts question difficulty and revisits weak areas based on each student's performance. The teacher reviews per-student analytics afterwards and identifies misconceptions.
Tools: Seneca Learning
Edpuzzle science video with checkpoints
Each student watches a 12-minute science explainer video (e.g. on the digestive system) loaded into Edpuzzle with five embedded checkpoint questions. The video auto-pauses at each checkpoint; each student answers on their own device before the video continues. The teacher reviews per-checkpoint accuracy.
Tools: Edpuzzle
Combustion safety video and Forms check before practical
Year 7 are about to do a combustion practical involving a Bunsen burner, a splint and three different fuels. Department policy is that every pupil watches the safety briefing and passes a check before lighting any flame. The 15-minute lesson opens with a five-minute video produced by the science technician walking through the safety steps: tying back hair, eye protection, the position of the gas tap, what to do if a sleeve catches.
Students watch the video at their desks on iPads, then complete an eight-question Microsoft Form. The Form is set to require 100% before submission. Anyone who scores below 8/8 watches the video again and re-takes the quiz. The teacher only allows the practical to start when every name is on the green-tick list.
Tools: YouTube, Microsoft Forms
Cells and microscopy knowledge organiser self-quizzing
The unit on cells and microscopy is half-finished. The class needs to fix the keywords in long-term memory before the assessment in two weeks. Today's 20-minute lesson is structured self-quizzing using the unit's knowledge organiser, which the teacher has shared as a Google Doc.
Each student opens the doc on their iPad, covers the right-hand definitions column with a paper bookmark, and works through the 15 keywords trying to write the definition before revealing it. They mark themselves as they go. The exit ticket asks them to write five definitions in their books from memory; the teacher collects to spot patterns of misconception.
Tools: Google Docs
Atomic structure chapter on iPad with short-answer questions
Year 9 are revising for the end-of-unit chemistry assessment. Today is a 30-minute reading lesson on atomic structure: protons, neutrons, electrons, atomic number, mass number, isotopes. The chapter is four pages long and lives as a Google Doc on the LMS.
Students read at their own pace on their iPads, with no annotation tools. They make their own notes in their exercise books as they go. After 25 minutes the teacher closes the doc on the projector and asks six short-answer questions on the board for students to answer in their books. The questions cover the same six concepts the chapter introduced.
Tools: Google Docs
Cell biology in immersive 3D
Each student navigates a 3D model of an animal cell at their own pace, observing organelles in spatial relationship and zooming into individual structures (mitochondrion, nucleus, ribosomes). The teacher poses three observational prompts during the navigation. Pairs share three observations after.
Tools: CoSpaces
Live ISS-Earth feed observation
The class watches the live video feed from the International Space Station for 20 minutes, with the teacher pausing on visible weather systems, city lights, and ocean colour patterns. Students observe the curvature, the speed of orbit visible in cloud movement, and the day-night terminator passing across the planet.
Tools: ISS Live Stream
Virtual lab demo of dangerous reaction
The class watches a virtual simulator demonstration of an alkali metal reacting with water (e.g. caesium, francium-style demos that are too violent or expensive for school labs). The teacher pauses to discuss observable phenomena, asks students to predict products, then lets the simulator complete the reaction with chemical-equation overlay.
Tools: PhET Simulations
Lessons that look CR 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.