Art
Collaborative virtual gallery curating student work
The class collaboratively builds a virtual 3D gallery space curating their A-Level portfolio work. Each student designs one room of the gallery, selecting their own works plus two pieces from classmates' portfolios with curatorial rationale. The class navigates the gallery during a launch event and writes critical responses to other rooms.
Tools: CoSpaces
A-Level portfolio with AR walkthrough of physical exhibition
Each student builds an A-Level portfolio that includes an AR walkthrough of their physical exhibition. The AR layer adds a virtual layer to each physical artwork: process video, voice-over commentary, alternative compositional choices the artist considered. Visitors view the physical work and the AR enhancements simultaneously through their phone camera.
Tools: Adobe Aero, Procreate
Generative art responsive to spectator biometric data
Each student builds a generative artwork that responds to spectator biometric data (heart rate via wrist sensor, facial expression via webcam, breath rhythm via microphone). The artwork changes visibly when different spectators engage. Each piece is presented to the class with a 200-word artist statement.
Tools: p5.js
Computing
Database normalisation tradeoff analysis
The teacher posts an unnormalised database schema in a shared class Doc. Each student annotates one normalisation step they would apply (1NF, 2NF, 3NF, BCNF) with reasoning about the tradeoff in performance and complexity. The class plenary draws out where students propose different sequences.
Tools: Google Docs
Algorithm complexity debate (A-Level)
The teacher posts three different algorithms that solve the same problem (e.g. find a value in a list: linear scan, binary search on sorted, hash lookup). Each student votes on Mentimeter for the most efficient at scale, defends in pairs, debates, re-votes.
Tools: Mentimeter
Code review workshop with peer critique
Each student posts a 50-line excerpt of their A-Level NEA project code to a class Replit gallery. Two named peers per excerpt write a code-review comment focusing on structure, naming, and edge cases. Students revise based on the two reviews.
Tools: Replit
English
Critical lens panel on a literary text
The teacher posts a single short extract from a class text (e.g. the opening of Mrs Dalloway, a sonnet from Shakespeare). Each student is assigned one critical lens (feminist, Marxist, postcolonial, psychoanalytic, ecocritical) and posts a 100-word reading of the extract through that lens to a class Padlet. The class scrolls all readings and the teacher draws out where lenses agree, disagree and illuminate different aspects of the text.
Tools: Padlet
Stanza-by-stanza poetry close reading
The teacher allocates one stanza of a long poem (e.g. The Waste Land) per student. Each student writes a 200-word close reading of their assigned stanza in their own page of a shared class Doc. The class scrolls the full annotated poem in plenary; the teacher pulls together themes that recur across stanzas and students whose readings illuminate adjacent stanzas.
Tools: Google Docs
Editorial comparison of published criticism
The teacher posts three published critical essays on the same text in a shared class Doc, each on its own page. Students read all three, then add suggesting-mode comments on lines they find most or least convincing, with reasoning. The class plenary scrolls comments, the teacher highlights critical disagreements between students and lines that drew the most attention.
Tools: Google Docs
Geography
Critical globalisation case-study annotation
The teacher posts a globalisation case-study text in a shared class Doc. Students add suggesting-mode comments on lines they find most or least convincing, with reasoning. The class plenary scrolls comments, drawing out where critical thinking converges and diverges.
Tools: Google Docs
NEA hypothesis option workshop on shared wall
Each student posts three potential hypotheses for their A-Level NEA fieldwork investigation to a class Padlet. Three named peers comment on each post: one strongest, one weakest, one suggested refinement. Students then revise their preferred hypothesis based on the feedback.
Tools: Padlet
Live fieldwork data analysis across class
Each student brings their A-Level NEA fieldwork data to a shared class spreadsheet. The class collectively scrolls all data sets, with the teacher highlighting students whose data shows interesting patterns and asking them to explain. Pairs then write a one-line interpretation of one classmate's data.
Tools: Google Sheets
History
Historiographical interpretations panel
The teacher posts three short extracts from named historians on the same A-Level event (e.g. for the origins of the Cold War: Kennedy, Gaddis, Lefler). Each student picks the interpretation they find most convincing, posts a 150-word defence on a class Padlet with citation, and reads three peers' defences before the plenary debate.
Tools: Padlet
Source-reliability vote with debate (A-Level)
The teacher posts a single primary source from the A-Level period. Students vote on Mentimeter for how reliable they find it on a five-point scale, plus a free-text reason. The class sees the spread, defends in pairs, debates, and re-votes after.
Tools: Mentimeter
Synoptic essay-plan peer feedback
Each student posts a 300-word essay plan for a synoptic A-Level question on their own page of a shared class Doc. Three named peers comment per plan, focusing on the strongest argument and the most arguable thesis. Students then revise based on three sets of feedback.
Tools: Google Docs
Maths
Calculus proof comparison on shared workspace
The teacher posts a function (e.g. find the derivative of x sin x). Each student writes their working in their own Jamboard frame using GeoGebra to verify and posts a screenshot to a shared Padlet column. The class scrolls and the teacher highlights two structurally different approaches (e.g. product rule with one student's substitution choice versus another's), asking the contributing students to defend.
Vector problem-solving with shared approaches
The teacher posts a 3D vector problem (e.g. find the angle between two vectors; show that three points are collinear). Each student works on their own GeoGebra frame and posts a screenshot of their solution method to a class Padlet. The class scrolls and the teacher highlights three structurally different valid approaches.
Hypothesis test interpretation lab
The teacher posts a real-world hypothesis test scenario (e.g. is a coin biased?, is the mean grade in this cohort different from the national average?). Students vote on Mentimeter for the strongest interpretation of the test result among three options. The class sees the spread, then in pairs writes a defence on a shared Sheet. The teacher calls pairs to argue and the class re-votes.
Tools: Mentimeter, Google Sheets
Mfl
AR cultural-exhibition installation
Each student designs a virtual cultural exhibition about an aspect of target-language culture (food, music, architecture, festivals). The exhibition consists of AR exhibits placed at chosen real-world locations around the school grounds; viewers walk between locations and view exhibits through their phone camera. Each exhibit includes target-language audio commentary the student records.
Tools: Adobe Aero
AI-translation critique published as toggleable web page
Each student translates a literary passage from the target language with AI assistance, then produces a critical commentary comparing the AI's translation choices to their own. They publish a single interactive web page where the reader can toggle between three views: the original, the AI translation, and the student's translation, with hover annotations explaining each disputed choice.
Tools: Google Sites, GitHub Copilot
Multi-voice target-language podcast series
Pairs collaboratively produce a four-episode podcast series in the target language addressing a real audience of target-language learners. Each episode has multiple voices, sound design, music beds, and engages with a contemporary cultural topic. Pairs publish to a shared class podcast feed and write reflective commentary on production choices.
Tools: GarageBand
Music
Live-coded music composition in Sonic Pi
Each student composes a 60-second piece in Sonic Pi by writing live code that generates musical patterns. The composition must use at least three musical structures (e.g. a loop, a probabilistic event, a parameterised melody) defended in a 200-word artist's statement. Students perform live by running code in front of the class.
Tools: Sonic Pi
AI-trained generative composition with critique
Each student trains a small AI model on a chosen corpus of existing music (e.g. Bach chorales, jazz standards, contemporary minimalism) and uses it to generate new compositions. They critique the AI's output, identifying what the model captures well and what it misses, then publish a 90-second composition combining AI-generated and student-composed material with a written commentary.
Interactive sound installation responsive to environment
Each student builds an interactive sound installation that responds to environmental input (movement, ambient sound, time of day, weather data). The installation is presented in a chosen location for visitors to experience for 60-90 seconds each. Students write a 200-word artist's statement on the relationship between input and sound output.
Tools: p5.js
Re
Cross-cultural ethical dialogue with peer school
A UK A-Level RE class is paired with a peer school in a country with a different majority religion (e.g. India, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican). Both classes annotate the same ethical scenario on a shared Doc, each student tagging their religious tradition. The classes then video-call to debate where their traditions converge and diverge on the scenario.
Tools: Google Docs, Microsoft Teams
Cross-school live ethics debate
A UK A-Level RE class hosts a live debate competition with a partner school on a contested ethical issue (e.g. capital punishment, assisted dying). Two teams from each school argue different positions; teacher-judges on both sides give feedback. The class watches live and votes on the strongest case.
Tools: Microsoft Teams
Live joint research with religious community
Students collaboratively research a religious community by conducting live video interviews with practitioners (e.g. interview a rabbi, an imam, a priest, a Buddhist monk). Each student records and anonymises one interview clip, posts a transcript with analysis to a shared class web page, and engages with classmates' submissions. The class collectively builds a multi-tradition study.
Tools: Microsoft Teams, Google Sites
Science
Required-practical method crowd-sourcing
The teacher names an A-Level required practical (e.g. determining specific heat capacity, investigating enzyme kinetics). Each student posts to a shared spreadsheet one method choice they would optimise (variable to control more tightly, repetition strategy, equipment substitution) with a one-line justification. The class scrolls the spreadsheet and the teacher pulls out the three most defensible optimisations for whole-class discussion.
Tools: Google Sheets
Mark scheme inference workshop
The teacher posts an A-Level question with two anonymised student answers (one strong, one weak) and the official mark scheme. Each student posts to a shared Padlet column one inference about why the mark scheme rewards what it rewards. The class scrolls all inferences and the teacher draws out the most useful patterns for revision.
Tools: Padlet
Spec-point question debate
The teacher posts an A-Level question with a deliberately ambiguous wording. Each student votes on Mentimeter for one of three valid interpretations. The class sees the spread, then in pairs writes a 30-second defence. The teacher calls one pair from each interpretation to argue. The class re-votes.
Tools: Mentimeter
Lessons that look CT 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.