Speed Stacking Memory Game – Science Learning (Key Stages 3 and 4)

With a greater emphasis on factual recall enshrined within the new national curriculum here’s a simple idea to help young scientists remember terms and sequences as part of their science studies.  Create a fun speed stacking memory game that will help pupils to memorise key points and key items of information.  This idea can be modified to fit all sorts of teaching objectives and best of all, it gives teachers and home educationalists a wonderful opportunity to introduce how data can be plotted and shown visually.

Dinosaurs and Science

Dinosaurs and Science Speed Stacking Game

Simple memory game to help young scientists.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Resources

• Plastic cups (raid the water cooler)!
• Sheet of labels (Everything Dinosaur supplies various sets of labels – size of dinosaurs, sorting out geological periods and for older students, Linnaean hierarchy labels on the “dinosaurs for schools” website).
• Sticky tape to secure labels to the bottom of the plastic cups.
• A stop watch or other timing device (Ipad, Smart phone and so forth).

To access downloadable prehistoric animal and dinosaur themed resources: Contact Everything Dinosaur.

Let’s imagine that you have to explain about deep time and the geological periods as part of the teaching involved at Key Stage Three (genetics and evolution).  To help reinforce learning, challenge the students to create a stack of plastic cups in the correct geological order, mapping out the fossil record of visible life.  Just stick labels to the bottom of the cups – Cambrian, Cretaceous, Jurassic and so forth and once having explained about geological time challenge the class to stack the cups in the correct order in the fastest possible time.

As an extension you can plot the results and the class to work out the best way to make a visual representation of the data – bar charts, line graphs perhaps?

Handy Labels for the Speed Stacking Game?

Learn how animals are classified, learn the geological timescale with this speed stacking game.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Working with Key Stages 3 and 4

Perhaps, you are working with Key Stage 4 and you are covering how changes in biology have led to a better understanding of the process of evolution.  You want to explain how life is classified and introduce Linnaean classification, from a Domain down to a Species a simple stacking game can help to reinforce learning and to introduce a fun element into the lesson plan.  Record how long it takes each student to stack the cups in the correct sequence.  As an extension, can the class calculate the mean, mode and median stacking times?

Getting to Grips with Scientific Classification

Just add the labels to the plastic cups to make a fun memory game.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

This is a very simple but effective science speed stacking game.  It is great for helping students to memorise terms and sequences such as geological periods.  Lots of different labels can be created, perhaps even leading to the development of a dinosaur themed speed stacking game.

Extension Ideas

• Challenge the students to create the best way of visually displaying the data
• Can the class calculate the mode, median and mean
• Plot a distribution curve of the timing results, what are the variances?
• Can the students devise science themed speed stacking games of their own?

For prehistoric animal themed teaching resources including model kits, crafts and real fossils: Replicas of Fossil Animals – Educational Toys and Games.