Alkali Metals (Teach me, Tell me and Cloze exercise)

An interactive way for students to either revise Alkali Metals or learn the material for the first time. Fits into AQA Legacy C3 or the first part of the new AQA GCSE Chemistry.

Good points about this lesson:
- You can see whether students are engaged (because they have to move!)
- It introduces / encourages good flash card technique (i.e. saying the answers out loud, making sure you get precise wording etc).

- Print the publisher file onto A3 card and cut into small individual cards (one copy of the entire document for a class of 20, or you could double up for a normal-sized class. The class I wrote this for was very small.)
- Give students 1 card each
- Tell students that they now each have a model answer to a question. They will have 15 - 20 minutes to swap answers with their peers like so:

Student 1 - *reads question 1*
Student 2 - *answers question 1*
EITHER: Student 2 gets it right, and wins the card or Student 2 gets it wrong.
THEN: Student 1 *reads out the answer to question 1*
Student 2 *repeats it back*

Then reverse roles.

Nobody can move on without saying the model answer. If they can't answer the question, they don't just keep guessing. They are told what the right answer is. BUT they have to be able to repeat it, which keeps them listening.

When this period is over, give students the cloze exercise to fill in. This acts as a summary of what they have learned. (In other topics I have given students a copy of the publisher file with the answers removed on A3 to fill in, or I've given them materials to mind map their answers. Lots of ways you could follow it up, but I think it's important to give them some way to consolidate their learning and produce a resource they can go back to).

Depending on the memory skills of the class you're doing it with, this could be silent recall or you could let them make use of the cards.