OER for Learning Activities

This additional OER material is connected to the ‘Before the workshop READ – LEARNING ACTIVITIES FOR TRANSVERSAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT’ exercise and provides very practical further information to the content presented there. As you are already aware, for children aged 6–10, active learning creates opportunities to develop curriculum knowledge and transversal skills at the same time. When pupils work with others, explain their thinking, explore different solutions or reflect on their learning, they are also practising skills that they can use in many different situations. In the SPIRIT project, we interpret active learning as a tool that provide opportunities to develop…

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Debate is an active learning technique that helps pupils express their opinions, give reasons for their ideas, listen carefully to different viewpoints and respond respectfully to others. In primary school, debate does not need to be a formal competition between two teams. It can begin with very simple questions such as “Should homework be optional?”, “Is it better to read a book or watch a film?” or “Should pupils be allowed to choose where they sit?” For young learners, the main goal of debate is not to “win” an argument. It is to learn how to form an opinion, give…

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The Jigsaw Method is a cooperative learning strategy in which every pupil becomes responsible for learning one part of a topic and then teaching it to others. Like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, each pupil holds an important piece of information that the group needs in order to understand the whole picture. The method is particularly valuable for active learning because pupils are not simply receiving information from the teacher: they explore, discuss, explain, listen and learn from one another. It can support communication, collaboration, responsibility and active listening while giving every pupil a meaningful role in the learning…

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Station Rotation is an active learning approach in which pupils work in small groups and rotate between a number of learning stations. Each station offers a different way of engaging with the same topic or learning goal. For example, pupils might work with the teacher at one station, complete a collaborative hands-on task at another, and use a digital learning activity at a third. Station Rotation is particularly well suited to primary classrooms because young pupils are often already familiar with working in groups, centres or activity stations. It gives teachers opportunities to combine teacher-guided learning, independent work, collaboration, hands-on…

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Gallery Walk is an active and collaborative learning strategy that combines thinking, discussion and movement. Instead of staying at their desks, pupils move around the classroom in small groups and visit different “gallery” stations. At each station, they explore a question, picture, problem, text or piece of pupil work, discuss it with their group and add their own ideas or feedback. For young learners, Gallery Walk can make classroom discussion more engaging and accessible by providing opportunities to move, observe, talk, draw and write. It can be used across different subjects to activate prior knowledge, explore a new topic, solve…

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Think–Pair–Share is a simple and highly practical active learning strategy that gives every child time to think, talk and contribute. Instead of asking a question and immediately calling on individual pupils, the teacher first gives everyone time to think independently. Pupils then discuss their ideas with a partner before some of the ideas are shared with the whole class. This simple structure can help young learners develop confidence, active listening, communication and reasoning skills, while encouraging the participation of children who may be less likely to speak in a whole-class discussion. Think–Pair–Share can be used across different subjects and can…

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