Put the material you want the students to learn into simple, clear sentences. Then add three different types of questions related to that content. The first type of questions should be factual and based directly on the sentences, so that the students easily can find the answers and feel sucessful. The second type of questions should be answerable only through thinking, analysis, comparison, extrapolation, and so forth. Their answers should not be in the material. The third question or objective should require that the team take the new information taught through the material and use it in a creative way by making something, such as a poem, a picture, a composition, a three-dimensional puzzle, a scrambled board, a set of task cards, a word quiz, or an original song/rap.
Students work as a team toward completion of all the questions or objectives assigned. After an appropriate amount of time, the teacher has the questions read, one at a time, and calls upon teams to respond. Answers are compared and discussed or challenged. Artistic, creative, original work is shared, either by presentation or mounting on walls. All members must participate. If any team can hear the answers of another team, those may be used; thus, teams are cautioned to whisper and work quietly.
Small Group Techniques
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