Enhancing GCSE skills through a Treasure Hunt…

by Mr Woods,
ITT Student, R.E. Department

From the offset in Year 7, students in RE complete GCSE formatted tests at the end of each unit of work, to prepare them for ‘the real thing’.

 

My Year 8 classes struggled a little to formulate the longer answers required in their last end of unit test, so I decided I would use a lesson to creatively build on their skills for answering the evaluation question, whilst ensuring that lesson content was still covered … This was done in the style of a ’12 Marker Treasure Hunt’.

 

The 12-Marker questions require students to evaluate a given statement.

 

Students were placed in teams, and used the space in the Boulevard to complete their treasure hunt. Each team was given a different starting point (one of the four ‘stations’), and each team had a specific amount of time to complete the activity at a station, before they had to move on.

• Station 1 required students to understand what a selection of pictures were representing – this would enable them to explain how they understand the given statement, in order to write a good introductory paragraph.
• At Station 2, students had to categories non-religious arguments into FOR and AGAINST. Once completed, they were tasked with choosing the strongest arguments that they could use, explaining why they chose them.
• The real ‘hunt’ began at Station 3 where students had to find biblical quotes. Once they had found and copied a quote, they needed to explain the meaning of each quote (Stations 2 and 3 will be used together to create fabulous PEE paragraphs!)
• Station 4 consisted of scrambled words, which students had to unscramble to reveal each way the Church can (and does) help the local community. The extension task here was to say HOW these acts help the community. This could be used throughout their answer.

 

 

Once students had fully completed the activities at each section, we returned to the classroom to peer assess answers that students had collated. Homework was then set for students to use their treasure hunt worksheet to write a ‘perfect’ 12-mark answer.