As a society, we are obsessed with ranking. Watch the news, scan social media, or recommend a book or movie to a friend, and – there it is- a list of the top ten in any category, a poll to determine the “GOAT” in any given sport, or a list of celebrities by net worth.
Ranking engages the brain in a different way than any other task. Consider the power of this strategy in the classroom. Students must clearly articulate ideas, explain and justify their reasoning, and consider others’ viewpoints.
Here are a few sample ranking activities that can be incorporated using digital or paper-based methods:
RANKING IN LITERATURE
My 5th grade GT students read The Giver, and one of my favorite activities was having them rank some of the features of the community. After reading the first few chapters, students would begin to have some opinions about these rules and norms. We’d discuss why a society would choose such rules (what did they see as the benefits?) and why they were having a reaction to them (what are the detriments and losses?). We’d list a few (no color, family size limited, etc.) and then students would rank them by consequential impact. The top item would be the aspect thought to have the most negative impact or influence on people and the one that students would change or do away with first.
This was one of the most dynamic silent discussions of the year! We used Intel’s Visual Ranking Tool which is sadly is no longer available. However, there are some other digital options.
One option is Next Lesson‘s Rank & Reason tool which is very much like Intel’s interactive tool. Students can drag and drop items to rank them, type in the reasons for their rank choices, and then compare their ranks and reasons with those of classmates. As students read the reasoning offered by others, they might be influenced to change their minds which they can do easily by dragging and dropping to change the order. I remember how much fun it was to watch students furiously type in responses to one another, read others’ reasons, then change their rankings. The Next Lesson thinking tools are not completely free, but they do offer free previews and a lower cost subscription for teachers whose schools do not subscribe.
A free digital option is to create your own simple drag-and-drop ranking activity using Flippity’s Manipulative template (see picture below). It is not as dynamic, and I would want to have students collaborate to complete the ranking together or at least discuss in small groups to hear others’ reasons. You can test one I created HERE (drag and drop to rank the items) and find the instructions for making your own HERE.
Of course, you can easily have students do ranking activities using sticky notes and clipboards, and this can be a fun way to get everyone moving! Have students write the items to be ranked, each on a sticky note, and place them on paper or a clipboard in order from top to bottom. Then, have students do “walk and talks” or circulate around the room to pair up and discuss. Students can move their sticky notes if they are influenced to change their minds.
RANKING ACROSS DISCIPLINES
There are many ways to incorporate ranking in all subject areas and with different topics of study. You can find some good ideas to get you started in this article. All could be modified to meet your students’ needs. Here are just a few others I can add:
Ian Byrd gives a fabulous explanation of how he modified NASA’s “Problem in Space” for his students in order to deepen and extend the kinds of thinking and conversations his students could have. Any ranking activity could be greatly improved by implementing some of the same ideas he shared in Lunar Survival Skills, and you might like to try this one with your students!
Mensa for Kids The Power of Invention includes an activity in which students choose 5 important inventions and decide the one they would least like living without. You could extend this by having students rank all five according to their impact (see Invention Impact: A Critical Thinking Activity). As described above, you could use Flippity’s Manipulatives template to easily create a digital version (again, try it out here). I’d make sure that students have the opportunity to share their reasoning and change their rankings.
I’ve never used this, but it might be really fun to have students compare their ranking of items with a larger population in Ditch That Textbook’s Family Feud Template. I mention it because it may be something you can use for other purposes. Let us know if you do!
BACKWARD RANKING
In math, of course, ranking is ordering by attributes or values (greatest to least, etc.). What if we rearrange the task (hello, S.C.A.M.P.E.R.😃 ) and rather than having students do the ranking, we share lists that are already ranked? We then ask students to explain what has been ranked, how, and why (i.e. for what purpose might someone do this? Who would be interested?). This presents students with a different task altogether. It forces them to focus on details or attributes and promotes divergent thinking because there may be many sensible responses. Here are some sample slides, and the first one may stump you! You can find the answers on the final slides.
This activity reminds me of other “backward” activities (see You’ve Got Game: Figure Out the Rules! and January 25th is National Opposite Day!)
Have you incorporated ranking into lessons or units? If so, please share your ideas in the comments below. And if you are new here, you might like to view this 4-minute video tour of the website and consider subscribing if you find the resources helpful.