Year 8 are studying how writers build and release tension. The teacher has written a short branching mystery in Twine, The Empty House, with nine decision points, and shared it as a single web page that students open on their own devices. At each branch, students write their choice and a one-line prediction in their books before clicking, and once the next passage loads they note whether the tension rose or fell and copy out the sentence that did the work. Halfway through, the teacher stops the room so three students who took different routes can compare what they read, and the class lists the techniques that turned up in the tensest passages: short sentences, withheld information, a noise from the floor above. Students finish by going back to read one branch they did not take, ready to plan a two-branch scene of their own next lesson.
This page is one of a growing set of PICRAT examples by cell, subject and grade. Page maintained by Andy Perryer.