Every strategy below is used somewhere in the Tech Ed P4 lessons – and every one works for any Tech Ed topic you design yourself (and in your other subjects too). Star the strategies you already own; circle the ones you want to grow. Reach for this sheet whenever you design or edit a lesson (you will use it in the Day 2 Design Studio).
| Strategy | What it looks like | Why / when to use it | Where Tech Ed P4 uses it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Play-based / experiential hook | Learners play with the idea before any explanation | Creates curiosity and shared experience to teach from use to open a new topic |
L1 'Is it AI?' L2 QuickDraw L3–4 demo L5–6 gallery L7 LLM play L9–10 Chat with Chatty |
| Rapid voting / polling | Everyone commits publicly to a low-stakes answer (cards, hands, corners) | 100% participation in seconds surfaces misconceptions use as opener or quick check |
L1 'Is it AI?' L7 'Classify or Generate?' |
| Prior-knowledge activation | Recall or brainstorm what learners already know before new input | New learning sticks to old knowledge (Ambrose) use before every new concept |
L1 AI in daily life L8 superhero brainstorm L12 whiteboard brainstorm |
| Strategy | What it looks like | Why / when to use it | Where Tech Ed P4 uses it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Think-Pair-Share | 30s solo think, 2 min pair talk, then share-out | Everyone thinks before anyone speaks rehearsal lowers speaking stakes |
L2 mini-lesson L7 video + TPS workshop debriefs |
| Worked example / teacher demo | Expert reasons aloud through a solved case before learners try | Cuts cognitive load for novices (Clark & Mayer) use before independent practice |
L3–4 Teachable Machine demo L5–6 Bunny Ears demo L7 LLM demo L8 prompt examples L9–10 system-prompt example L11 think-aloud |
| Mini-lesson | 5–10 minutes of focused input sandwiched between activities | Input lands when learners already need it keep it short and just-in-time |
L2 coding vs learning L7 how GenAI works L8 prompt engineering L9–10 system prompts L11 ethics mini-lecture |
| Guided inquiry / learning by doing | Learners build or investigate with scaffolds, discovering the concept | Making drives understanding use when the concept can be discovered |
L2 Silly Eyeglasses L3–4 train a classifier L5–6 AI project L7 hide-the-elephant L8 superhero L9–10 chatbot |
| Build-test-iterate | Make it, break it, diagnose, improve – logged each round | The failure is the teacher builds engineering habits of mind |
L3–4 train-test-evaluate L5–6 make & playtest L8 prompt iteration L9–10 chatbot build |
| Role-play / think-aloud | Learners (or teacher) act out reasoning step by step | Makes invisible reasoning visible use for processes and perspectives |
L11 step-by-step reasoning role-play & think-aloud |
| Jigsaw | Each group masters a different piece, then teaches the room | Positive interdependence – everyone's piece matters | This workshop's lesson teardown |
| Strategy | What it looks like | Why / when to use it | Where Tech Ed P4 uses it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template / design-sheet scaffold | A structured sheet walks learners through ideate → design → make | Scaffolds keep working memory on the thinking, not the logistics fade them over time |
L5–6 project design sheet L9–10 system-prompt template L11 Ethical Matrix L12 responsible-use checklist |
| Human-centered design framing | Start from who the user/learner is and what they need | Anchors making in empathy decide audience before mechanics |
L5–6 design your AI project (for a real user) |
| Pair / team collaboration | Structured pair or small-group work with roles | Talk is thinking roles stop free-riding |
L2, L5–6, L8, L9–10, L11, L12 |
| Playtesting | Peers try your creation and give structured feedback | Authentic audience feedback while there is still time to fix |
L5–6 playtest & feedback Day 2 microteaching |
| Strategy | What it looks like | Why / when to use it | Where Tech Ed P4 uses it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claim-Evidence-Reasoning | State a claim, back it with evidence, explain the link | Turns opinions into arguments use in share-outs and feedback |
L2 CER share-out L11 ethics reasoning Day 2 peer feedback |
| Risk-spotting / critical analysis | Structured questions: who could this harm? what if it is wrong? | A thinking routine for ethics that works in any subject | L3–4 algorithmic bias L11 ethical issues + Ethical Matrix |
| Red-Blue critique | One team attacks an idea's risks, one defends with safeguards | Roles make critique safe and rigorous | L11 responsible-use pairs L12 Red-Blue team debate |
| Iterative refinement | Revise your work from feedback, then say what changed | Normalises drafts closes the feedback loop |
L7 prompts L8 superhero story L9–10 chatbot L11–12 recommendations Day 2 revision |
| Whole-class share-out / debrief | Structured closing: groups report, teacher connects threads | Consolidates learning celebrates work publicly |
All 12 lessons (L1–L12) |
| Reflection routines / exit tickets | Short written reflection on learning, confusion, next steps | Metacognition cements learning gives you formative data |
L1 quiz reflection L2 exit ticket L7 homework L8 share-out L11, L12 reflections workshop exit cards |
| Gallery / showcase walk | Work displayed learners tour, compare, leave comments |
Authentic audience without presentation anxiety | L5–6 project gallery L9–10 chatbot showcase Day 2 closing |
None of these appear in the Tech Ed P4 lessons yet – which makes them perfect candidates for your own designs (Day 2) and for editing the lessons later.
| Strategy | What it looks like | Why try it in Tech Ed | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peer Instruction (vote – discuss – revote) | Rapid vote on a concept question, pairs argue their answers, then REVOTE on the same question explain only if the revote is still split |
Upgrades the L1/L7 votes: the peer discussion does the teaching, and you get misconception data twice | Mazur Kaufman– Freeman et al., active learning readings |
| PRIMM (Predict – Run – Investigate – Modify – Make) | Students predict what given code does, run it to check, investigate how it works, modify it, then make their own | Purpose-built for teaching programming the natural classroom sequel to Guess the Prompt |
CS education (Sentance) – fits Scratch, RAISE and chatbot lessons |
| Parsons problems | Working code cut into shuffled blocks students re-order the blocks to make it run |
Teaches program structure without syntax frustration – great for mixed-ability Scratch classes | CS education research |
| Pair-programming roles (driver / navigator) | One types, one guides and checks roles swap every few minutes on a timer |
Stops the confident student doing everything – strengthens every pair task in L2–L10 | CS classroom practice |
| Rubber-duck explaining | Before asking the teacher, a stuck student explains their code line by line to a partner (or a toy duck) | Builds independent debugging habits and shrinks the hands-up queue | CS classroom practice |
| 1-2-4-All (snowball) | Solo think, pairs compare, pairs merge to fours, each four reports ONE best idea | Scales Think-Pair-Share to big questions and big classes – every voice still heard | Kaufman– interactive techniques handout |
| Muddiest point | 60 seconds at the end: 'the thing I understood LEAST today was…' | The honest cousin of the exit ticket – surfaces confusion students will not raise aloud | Kaufman– formative assessment tip sheet |
| Concept mapping | Students draw the unit's ideas (AI, data, model, training, bias…) as a linked map | Makes connections between lessons visible strong revision strategy before quizzes |
Kaufman– How People Learn |
| Fishbowl discussion | Inner circle discusses outer circle observes with a listening task then swap |
A structured whole-class debate format beyond Red–Blue | Kaufman– Svinicki & McKeachie, facilitating discussions |
| Traffic-light confidence signals | A green / yellow / red cup or card on each table shows how the group is coping mid-task | Live formative signal during Make phases – you see who needs you without stopping the room | Assessment-for-learning classroom practice |
Wait time: 3–5 silent seconds after every question.
Think first, talk second: solo → pair → room.
Warm calling: invite ideas you overheard in pairs; never ambush.
Praise process, not person – and normalise struggle: 'stuck' is where learning happens.