Unplugged Activities and Logic Gates

Okay, so hear me out. This week, I took a risk with a new unplugged activity to teach logic gates to Year 8 pupils — and it paid off! Not only did it help my students learn, but it also led to one of the most most fun lessons I've taught so far. Here’s how it went...

Teaching logic gates this week, timed with a formal observation and a Teach First training day earlier this week. I really wanted to try a different pedagogical approach and gain some useful feedback to action in future lessons. During the Teach First training day, our speaker from the NCCE, emphasised the importance of Unplugged Activities when teaching theoretic topics, such as binary or data.

Inspiration struck when I created a quick draft of the resources, using a4 paper in plastic wallets as the posters. I had this vision of the pupils acting out the logic gates (inputs and outputs) with posters representing the data and the gates. My first Year 8 class of the week seemed like the perfect time to implement this unplugged activity.

Immediately I saw positive results and high levels of engagement from the pupils in the class. Having the pupils standing at the front holding the posters, and cold calling pupils to guide us through the logical processes meant that everybody got to be involved in the activity. I loved guiding this session, reminding me of the times at University spent hosting quizzes and events - it felt like I was hosting an educational gameshow! Critically reflecting after the lesson , I knew that I could improve the resources, using some A4 card and a larger canvas for the logic gates, to make it more accessible in line with Quality First Teaching.

The next day, I used this activity during my observation lesson. This class is smaller and love to work together and get involved, so I knew this would be a really effective way to convey this technical content. Every student was involved in the demonstration, ensuring that I could check for understanding of each pupil in small groups.

I will admit that I am sometimes guilty of too much 'teacher talk or 'telling, not showing' but the success with this activity really shows the importance of constantly trying new things and new activities to increase student participation in my classes.

I will definitely be looking for more lessons where I can incorporate more unplugged activites.

Oh, and this last picture is an artists representation of what the pupils looked like. No pupils were used in the making of this photo, only Tommys.