1. Using PEEL to turn passive
learners active
Darren Mead

2. What is PEEL
• The Project for Enhancing Effective Learning
• was founded in 1985 by a group of teachers and
academics who shared concerns about the
prevalence of passive, unreflective, dependent
student learning, even in apparently successful
lessons
• classroom approaches that would stimulate and
support student learning that was more
informed, purposeful, intellectually active and
independent

3. PEEL principles of quality
LEARNING
• 1. Share intellectual • 5. Promote talk which is
control exploratory, tentative and
• 2. Look for occasions hypothetical
when students can work • 6. Encourage students to
out part (or all) of the learn from other students
content or instructions questions and comments
• 3. Provide opportunity for • 7. Build a classroom
choice and independent environment that
decision making supports risk taking
• 4. Provide diverse range • 8. Using a wide variety of
of experiencing success intellectually challenging
teaching procedures

4. • 9. Use teaching • 11. Regularly raise
procedures that are students awareness
designed to promote of the nature Of
specific aspects of different aspects of
quality learning quality learning
• 10. Develop students • 12. Promote
awareness of the big assessment as part of
picture: how various the process.
activities fit together
and link to the big
idea

5. A PEEL Start point
• The Semantic map
• Original thoughts and questions
• End of lesson different colour to change
add and amend ideas
• Highly motivating as students can see
progress

7. High risk start point
• Dirty trick- rubbish notes
• Caution- students feel cheated will they trust you again?
• Opens up discussion about active and passive learning
• Stimulates students to ask more questions about what
they are looking at
• Students refused to make notes before they understood
what they meant
• Recommended that it is used sparingly
• Science alternative plan experiment using this equipment
with spurious extras.

9. Intellectual control
• May need surrendering, but definitely
shared
• Rather than asking what you want to know
ask what do you wonder
• Increases student interest, self esteem,
reveals misconceptions.
• Student ownership of the learning
• Students motivated by the responsibility

10. Alphabet analyser

11. Before before after after
• Can be done over long time period e.g.
picture of pyramids could lead to talk of
impact of tourism etc
• Can be done in a table describe what is
seen now, then before, then after then
before before
• Allow discussion within student groups

13. Before
Before
Before
Present What do you see? what do you think is
happening?
After
After
After

14. Before
Before
Before
Prese What do you see what do you
nt think is happening?
After What will happen in one hours
time to the pill?
After
After

15. Before
Before
Before What happened to the pill 6 months
before this picture was taken?
Present What do you see what do you think is
happening?
After What will happen in one hours time to
the pill?
After
After

16. Before
Before
Before What happened to the pill 6
months before this picture was
taken?
Present What do you see what do you
think is happening?
After What will happen in one hours
time to the pill?
After What will happen to the pill in 5
After days time?

17. Before What happened to the pill 5 years
Before before this picture was taken?
Before What happened to the pill 6 months
before this picture was taken?
Present What do you see what do you think is
happening?
After What will happen in one hours time to
the pill?
After What will happen to the pill in 5 days
After time?

19. What? When? Which? Who? Why? How?
Where?
Event Situation Choice Person Reason Means
Is Present
Did Past
Can Possibility
Would Probability
Will Prediction
Might Imagination

20. New dictation
• Text read by teacher students do not write but
listen. They try to get the overview of the article.
• Teacher questions
• Teacher reads again, but, more slowly but to fast
to copy!
• Students bullet point key points
• Teacher stops regularly to discuss what they
have so far
• Then give article to compare
• Additions/ changes in a different colour

21. Jumbled instructions
• Example from a practical
• Debrief how is it different to just telling
them.
• Benefits from ambiguity

22. “X” marks the vowel
• Increases interaction with text and recall
• Replace all vowels in a piece of text and it
• Xs stxll xndxrstxndxble!!!
• Differentiate by having no support text,
amount of translating or missing out th
vwls ll tgthr!!!!

23. Venn a new way
• Do not give the diagram
• Ask them to design it
• This will stimulate lots of questions even
before they start using it.
• Students will find that they need to know
quite a bit before they can make
decisions.

24. Biscuit challenge
• Crackers
• Chocolate bars
• Chocolate
biscuits
• Cake
• Bread
• Biscuit

25. Biscuit challenge
• Butter puff
• Crackers • Ritz
• Lemon puff
• Chocolate bars • Chocolate digestives
• Baps
• Chocolate • Crumpet
• Scones
biscuits • Doughnut
• Jaffa cake
• Cake • Tea cake
• Penguin
• Bread •
•
Wagon wheel
Twix
• Biscuit •
•
Kit Kat
Mars
• French toast
• Eccles cake

27. Process linking activities
• Often only interested in end product, eg a
piece of coursework
• But students actually go through a lot of
thinking to get there
• Formalise this and value the stages
• This example is exam question practice

30. Reading logs
• Observations
• What is the article about?
• Links with other concepts being studied?
• What technical/ structural parts of the brain are used?
• Theories
• What is the point that the author is trying to make?
• What relevance has this article got to your study of the brain?
• Is the author trying to tell you something about you? About Human beings? About our world?
• Why did the author write this text?
• Can I learn something from this text
• Predictions
• “I wonder if…..”
• “Maybe…
• Reactions and responses
• “I like…”
• “ I dislike …”
• What does this article make you think about?”
• Questions
• For the author
• For the scientists?
• Quotations from the text
• Reflections ( after you have read the article at least once)
• On your interest level
• Authors language
• How scientific is the article?
• Does the title help “sell” the article?

31. Post box responses
• A method that ensures all students
respond.
• Use at the start of a module
• Use for open ended opinion topics that will
lead to debate Example
• 6 statements for comment. All students
respond
• 6 groups to compile and feedback the
responses

32. Yes but what about this one
• Puzzle drill
• The teacher draws up a 4x4 grid
• writes an answer and either a question
that will give that answer
• Some dummy answers and questions
need to be added to the outside edges of
the grid.
• Each jigsaw piece needs two answers
and two questions/data sets.

33. Fact in fiction
• Fact in Fiction – Creative writing challenge
• A key skill for anyone working in healthcare is empathy, being able
to feel their emotions by imaging to “walk in their shoes”. As part of
your training we would like you to imagine you are a patient who has
just been cured of a stomach (peptic) ulcer, that had been troubling
you for sometime.
• We would like you to start at the beginning of your story and tell it up
to this point in time. Give details of what happened and how you felt
at each stage of the process. Obviously, this is a science
assignment and you are therefore will be credit for the use of
scientific detail. Use the fact sheet provided to research the facts for
your story. You MUST underline each use of these facts throughout
your writing. For example.
• My name is Boris, I am 73 years old and I’m sat on a bus. I often
suffer terrible indigestion after each meal, although the worst pain is
when I eat on an empty stomach .My wife has nagged me into going
to see the Doctor, I’m on the 27 bus now and its approaching the
doctor’s surgery…..
• Make sure you include
• The symptoms of an ulcer
• What and endoscope is and how it works
• How the doctors used the endoscope to confirm your ulcer
• What medication and advice the doctors gave you to help cure your

35. 5 out of 3 quiz
• Cut up the questions do what ever
question your group finds easiest
• You will be marked out of three
• If you score is less than three you
may now use your books as a source
of information

36. • If your answer is so it good it includes
extra relevant information you may
get 4 out of 3
• At the end of the lesson your teacher
will judge which answer is the best for
each question. This one will be
awarded 5 out of 3
• We will total your groups score at the
end
• Make sure you write your groups name
on the back of each answer sheet

37. What was the earth’s early atmosphere? What impact did volcanoes have?
What impact did the evolution of plants have? What is the earth’s atmosphere like today?
Where did the earth’s Carbon dioxide go? What is the ozone layer?

38. What was the earth’s early atmosphere? What impact did volcanoes have?
• Mainly Hydrogen and Helium escaped into space • Volcanoes erupted releasing carbon dioxide and water
• Then mainly carbon dioxide and water vapour vapour
• With small amounts of methane ammonia 3 marks • When the water vapour cooled it condensed to form the
Formula H He CO2 H2O CH4 NH3 for additional mark oceans
Or gravity not holding helium hydrogen • Water formation provided an environment for plants to
Or volcanoes released gases evolve leading to oxygen being released
Or water vapour eventually cooled to form lakes oceans When volcanoes were having their biggest impact the
atmosphere had little oxygen
The presence of oxygen then allowed the evolution of
organisms that respired
What impact did the evolution of plants have? What is the earth’s atmosphere like today?
• Appeared 3.5 billion years ago • Majority is nitrogen
• Used water and carbon dioxide for Photosynthesis released • Next most common is oxygen
oxygen into atmosphere • Other gases include carbon dioxide water vapour and
• This oxygen reacts with ammonia and methane making noble gases
water carbon dioxide and nitrogen 3 marks 78% Nitrogen 21% o2 0.04% co2
Flammable to describe methane ammonia named noble gas (especially argon)
Chloroplasts etc in context atmosphere has been more or less the same for 200 million
Oxygen was a “pollutant” at the time killing some microbes years
Led to a reduction in co2 levels measured in dry as water vapour would be variable
Where did the earth’s Carbon dioxide go? What is the ozone layer?
• Through photosynthesis • Made from the oxygen in the air
• Became locked up as carbohydrate? • Absorbs harmful radiation
• Locked up as sedimentary rocks such as carbonates and • Forms between 25-50kn above the surface of the earth
fossil fuels Formula is o3
Naming a carbonate and the fossil fuels Harmful radiation would have stopped the evolution of life
The process of fossil fuel formation

39. • Photo of 5 from 3 quiz

40. Chain reaction
• You and your genes module review
example
• Active listening
• Each student must try to answer (in their
heads each question)

41. www.peel.educ.monash.edu.au
Searchable data base

42. PEEL principles of quality
LEARNING
• 1. Share intellectual • 5. Promote talk which is
control exploratory, tentative and
• 2. Look for occasions hypothetical
when students can work • 6. Encourage students to
out part (or all) of the learn from other students
content or instructions questions and comments
• 3. Provide opportunity for • 7. Build a classroom
choice and independent environment that
decision making supports risk taking
• 4. Provide diverse range • 8. Using a wide variety of
of experiencing success intellectually challenging
teaching procedures

43. • 9. Use teaching • 11. Regularly raise
procedures that are students awareness
designed to promote of the nature Of
specific aspects of different aspects of
quality learning quality learning
• 10. Develop students • 12. Promote
awareness of the big assessment as part of
picture: how various the process.
activities fit together
and link to the big
idea