Revision Mats – Lesley Ann McDermott writes:

I designed the mats to support student thinking on how to approach the assessment questions on the AQA Modern World History exam.

Often the question asks – Which event made war more likely? They are then given two bullet points to discuss.

Students must describe, explain and assess each bullet point. Two assess points made allows students to achieve a grade A on this question. However to access the A* grade they must focus back on the question and decide which event made war more likely. They must arrive at a reasoned judgement conclusion. So I designed the mats to give students an idea on how to move from description to explanation to assessment. Then I ask them to consider the impact the event had on subsequent events to arrive at their reasoned judgement conclusion.

Ideas on how to use the revision mats – 20 ways to use the mats.

  1. Students to pair up (A & B) & test each other on the events. Then swap over. Student A talks through events. Whilst student B listens and records if Student A hits the description, explanation or assessment criteria. If A runs out of ideas or makes mistakes student B should coach or question A to help support or guide their thinking. Then A & B swap over and repeat with B talking through the events and A listening, recording and then if needed coaching. This cooperative learning technique will help to reinforce their thinking and help boost their confidence.
  2. To show students the developmental thinking behind grade C to A*.
  3. Which event made war more likely? Choose 2 events & judge. Students should select two events or use past paper questions. Focus on the A grade assessment boxes. Judge – decide which event made war more likely.
  4. Sequence the revision mats in events in order. Create a revision timeline with dates and key points. Decide when war became inevitable? Is there a point at which war could have been avoided?
  5. Study the mats – then put them to one side. How long can you talk about an event from memory? Which box do you hit? (describe, explain, assess). Use a timer to time how long you can talk about the event. Ask someone to test you.
  6. Study the mats – then put them to one side. How much can you write about an event from memory? Which box do you hit? (describe, explain, assess). Use a timer to time how much you can write about the event.
  7. Use the Power Grids alongside the mats – students connect the events. How many can you connect? How long can you talk?
  8. Teacher to create key event list – student to Mix and Match events up.
  9. Teacher to create a list of events for students to spot which is the odd one out. They must then explain why?
  10. Give the students a copy of the source images mixed up and ask them to sort the source events into chronological order and write a few sentences about each event.
  11. Remove grades and label the student then must decide on progression of event to organise an answer.
  12. Upload to VLE for independent study opportunities.
  13. Ask students to create their own revision mats. Which sources would they use? What key questions would they add to the revision mats. How could they improve them?
  14. Students create a revision book page on events
  15. Students create a revision movie maker video on events. They could choose a pop song and images to go with the event.
  16. Ask students to come up with a multi-choice question and answer quiz based on the learning mats.
  17. Ask students to turn the learning mats into revision notes. Or make paper people to summarise the events onto.
  18. Ask students to turn the learning mats into drawings.
  19. Ask students to summarise each event into 25 words, to 10 words, to 5 words. Summarise each box within the mat to just keywords. Create a word cloud on the event.
  20. What happened next? Look, cover, check. Study mats. Cover up. Talk or write. Check. Then self-check - can you move from description to explanation to assessment without checking? Can you finish the event and connect to the next step? Then do exactly the same with the next event.

My students love the mats and have requested I make more for the course.

I would love to hear more ideas on how to use the mats with students.

Lesley Ann McDermott

February 2015