Hexagon and Monthly Revision Strategies

The ideas for two recent strategies that I used to help my students revise are:

Monthly revision (based on an idea originally shared by @Just_Maths Follow @Just_Maths).

Hexagons (based on an idea originally shared by @JivespinFollow @Jivespin)

Monthly revision

My students do not review their class learning as often as they should.

One way to help them revisit their learning, improve their memory and develop their confidence is through the use of the monthly revision resource.

The idea for a Science of creating a science version of the monthly resource made by @Just_Maths Follow @Just_Mathscame about in a chat between myself and @aegilopoides Follow @aegilopoides, who then went on to make the template and Science calendar for her exam board. Since my students reluctantly revise, my aim was to help them revisit key concepts including the annotation of graphs and images covered during lessons. An example of the one for October is shown in the image below:

Following the model set by @Just_Maths means that each month’s answers are shared the following month.

Update: 13.2.17 – from the main author

Follow @TJohns85) –  I have since added 3 AQA old Spec monthly revision resources to my TES account – TRJ. Download for free here:

2017 Core Science AQA Revision Material

2017 Additional Science AQA Revision Material

2017 Triple Science AQA Revision Material

Visual Hexagons

I have always loved this idea by @Jivespin since it helps it provides a visual hook for students to engage with. I also had a chat with @LesleyMunro4Follow @LesleyMunro4 who kindly outlined how she uses it within her own lessons.

My students find the 6 mark Science GCSE exam questions a real challenge to understand and then answer. Typically they would score a maximum of two marks. I used this resource to help my students use visual clues to deconstruct what the exam question is asking them, then use the information provided by each image to consider what they would need to include within a six mark question.

First the students use blue or black pen to work independently and note down what each image shows.

Then they discuss their ideas in a pair and add additional points to each image using green pen.

Lastly the students can explain how adjoining images are linked to each other.

When I tried this for the first time with my present GCSE group, I skipped steps 2 and 3 so that they could focus upon gaining confidence in what the images represented. I therefore allowed them to identify what each image showed, note their ideas using blue / black pen before reviewing each image as a whole class so that they can self-assess using green pen. The image below shows how the information was shared with the class.

My students struggled with this resource, the first time that they did it.

Below are examples of one student’s work with their improved answer:

So in future, I will provide some support by sharing a list of 10 sentences which may or may not relate to images being shown. Students have to eliminate the irrelevant sentences and then match the remaining seven before attempting to sequence them in a logical order in order to gain full marks.

Bukky Yusuf Follow @rondelle10_b

Secondary Science teacher, leader, consultant.

More ideas and uses for the ‘hexagons’ can be found on the brilliant blog by Pete Sanderson – who not only has a fantastic blog but is a must follow on twitter Follow @lessontoolbox

If you have a resource Idea or would like to contribute to this blog to share science ideas and resources please contact @TJohns85 Follow @TJohns85