Today I completed an alternative revision session with my senior VCE Physical Education students prior to a major assessment piece next week. In the past I have completed the standard revision activity with my students that requires them to answer questions on a page. However this time I went around the school with a handheld GPS and marked 12 random locations. I then got 12 of the key questions the students are required to understand and entered them one by one into a QR code generator. Once this was completed I placed them at the 12 different GPS locations. Now with this completed I was finally setup for the activity.
The students were then given a blank answer sheet and the GPS location of the first QR code. Once they managed to find the code they used their mobile phones to scan and reveal the question which then needed to be answered correctly in order for me to share the next GPS location. This process repeated until they reached the last QR code which included some further information about the assessment piece. The students were also encouraged to utilise their MP3 players to listen to their audio workbook and podcasts of key content if they were unsure of an answer.
So how successful was the activity? Well, the lack of motivation usually shown during revision activities was non-existent and the level of understanding the kids demonstrated was also excellent. Now I’m not sure this is a direct result of the activity itself, but I know for a fact that they enjoyed it and to me that is the most important thing.
Take a look at how the activity worked in the video below. How could you use GPS and QR codes in your classroom?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcTsvn_cC68]