How Would You Improve It

Individual work

• The teacher assigns one or more cards to the student.
• The student reads the word and thinks of one small change that could make the place or object better, easier, safer or more convenient to use. They then explain their idea, how it would work and why it would be useful. They can also mention similar improvements they have seen in real life.
• The teacher can model an answer before the activity.

For example: “Supermarket. I’d introduce shopping trolleys with a small screen that automatically shows the running total. It would help people keep track of their spending while they shop.”

Encourage the student to:

• explain how their improvement would work
• give a reason for their choice
• think of practical as well as creative solutions
• use the sentence starters provided
• mention real-life examples if they know any

Extra idea: After several cards, the student chooses their best improvement and develops it further. They can explain who would benefit from it, what problem it would solve and whether it could realistically be introduced.

Pair/group work (including breakout rooms)

• The teacher assigns one or more How Would You Improve It? cards to each pair or group.
• One student reads the word and suggests one small improvement. The other students react to the idea, ask questions and suggest alternatives.
• Group members can ask follow-up questions, such as “How would it work?”, “Who would benefit most?”, “Would it be expensive?” or “Have you seen anything like this before?”
• Students then compare their ideas and decide which improvement would be the most useful, realistic or creative before moving on to a new card.