ODD ONE OUT. Students are given a set of words with one word that does not fit. They need to find out why and guess the topic from the remaining words. For example, Beryllium β Gold β Magnesium β Calcium β Strontium β Barium. Gold is odd word, because the rest are the Alkaline Earth Elements. Thereby, students guess the topic.
What sounds can you hear? Students sit in silence for a minute while listening to recording. They need to record into the copybook all the sounds they hear. Thereby, students can guess the topic of the lesson. For example, a sound of combustion or explosion can mean a reaction.
Name Ten: students think and write ten items that fit particular criteria. For example,the topic is periodicity: metal, non-metal, atomic radius, first ionization energy, electronegativity ...
Word associations:students are given an initial word, for example, a table. Each student takes it in turns to say a word which they associate with the previous word. If the connection isnβt obvious, challenge the student to justify their choice: a table β rows β horizontal lines β Periodic table β periodic elements ...
Mystery picture: a teacher finds a picture that represents a topic of the lesson. To make the guess more difficult, a picture can be cropped into small pieces and shown separately one after another until students guess the topic.
Main idea and details: students are given three details about the topic, and they need to guess the main idea from the detail clues.
Rebus. The word that students will solve is a lesson topic.
Four pictures β one word. Students are shown 4 images one by one, which are related to the topic, but not directly. Challenge students starting from the most difficult image, uncovering the most obvious one in the end.
Video. Showing any topic-related video can be used to elicit topic from the students.
Unjumble / unscramble the word. The word that students will solve is a lesson topic.
Showing an experiment can also be used to introduce a lesson topic.