Business Basketball

Here's an idea I spotted on the Tutor2U website. Business Basketball is a great way to engage students in revision and get some relief from a stream of past papers.

We start with a set of questions - here they are based on Unit 3 of the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies syllabus. They can, of course, be adapted for any subject, any syllabus. I have written 23 easy questions and 23 hard questions numbered according to the chapters in the course textbook. The easy questions are simple definitions whilst the hard questions require more explanation.

How to Play
Divide the class into 2 teams. Put a “basket” at the front of the class – it could be a rubbish bin, cardboard box etc. You can use just about anything to mark a “shoot from” line on the floor about 3 metres away from the basket. The ball could also be created from just about anything – I’ve used things such as a roll of sellotape, paper scrunched into a ball and, oh yes, a ball.

Cut out the numbered easy and hard question labels and place these into a “hat”. I used a Tesco shopping bag. The students take it in turn to pick a label from the hat. They must answer the question they pick. Easy questions are worth 1 point whilst the harder questions are worth 2 points. Regardless of whether they get the question right or wrong, all students have a chance to shoot for an extra point.

The team with the most points at the end of the activity wins.

Flipped Learning - Hop Around Cards

I've been continuing my look at implementing the Flipped Classroom model in Business Studies. Whilst listening to the @tecknoteacher Computing podcast, I was introduced to the acronym USA, a teaching and learning model that follows the sequence Understand, Summarise and Answer. Let's assume that for homework we asked students to read (Understand) and make notes on (Summarise) Unit 1 Chapter 1 of the course textbook. Here is a great kinesthetic-type activity (Answer) for the following lesson. It gets students out of their seats - in fact they should be hopping up from their seats! Hop Around Cards is an idea I spotted on the teach-ict website. Click on the image to download the pdf. Instructions on how to use the Hop cards are contained within.

If you decide to use these cards, please take the time to let me know how it goes.

Connections Word Wall

Just like the Missing Vowels game, this Connections Word Wall game was inspired by @VictoriaCoren and @OnlyConnectQuiz. The activity also started as an attempt to promote literacy in Business Studies through a targeted DART (Directed Activity Related to Text) activity.

This activity is designed for Unit 1 Chapter 1 of the course textbook.

There are a variety of ways of tackling the Connections Word Wall with a class:
1. Delete everything except slide 2, then let the class sort the wall individually using PowerPoint
2. Print multiple copies of slides 2 and 3. Cut up slide 2 so that all the words are separated. The class can then sort the wall individually or in pairs.
3.Print slides 4-19 and tape them under random seats. Draw a 4x4 grid on the whiteboard. Let the 16 students with the words work as a team to sort the wall at the front of the class.
4.My favourite gets everyone in the class involved. Start by drawing two 4x4 grids in the room - use whiteboards, pinboards, flip charts, the floor etc. Print 2 copies of slides 4 -19 and share them amongst the class. Students can then work as a team to sort the 2 word walls.


The Connections Word Wall is great as a starter or plenary. It is easily adapted to any subject. Take a look at the activity and let me know what you think

Writing Frames in Business Studies

How to get the best out of students in a Business exam situation? As a teacher of Business Studies, that was a question I struggled to answer, particularly when it came to the 8 and 10 mark questions at the end of a GCSE exam. Students would seem to freeze when they were presented with a blank page which they were expected to fill. Then I was introduced to writing frames.

Writing frames are a way of providing structure when answering an exam question. Using information from various sources, I put together a series of writing frames for different kinds of exam question - discuss, explain, justify etc. This then evolved into this 12-page exam style booklet that I give to Year 11 students at the end of each topic:

For those of you who are teaching the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies course, the key booklet above relates to Topic 3.1 of the textbook. Take a look at the booklet and let me know what you think.

Missing Vowels Game

The missing vowels game was inspired by @VictoriaCoren and @OnlyConnectQuiz. The activity started as an attempt to promote literacy in Business Studies through a targeted DART (Directed Activity Related to Text) activity. It does just that by removing the vowels from the 10 key words displayed, leaving students to fill the gaps.

For those of you who are teaching the Edexcel GCSE Business Studies course, the key words used relate to Topic 1.1 of the textbook. Take a look at the activity and let me know what you think.