Task cards are one of my favorite tools for teaching in my high school science classes. Task cards, more or less, are index cards with questions on them. It gets a little bit more complex than that, but that’s the gist. Now I really like to both make and purchase these cards from Teachers Pay Teachers. Most often, each set of task cards will be based on a particular unit of study and have a large number of questions. Those questions can be in different content, or different question format. There are also some sets that are more so designed for a specific lesson. I like both. Now many people will say that task cards are only for elementary school, but I disagree wholeheartedly. Here’s why:
Pacing and Filling Time
I don’t know about you, but it takes me quite some time to figure out exactly how much time it is going to take my students to complete a lesson. Pacing not only has SO much to do with my pace in teaching, but also their pace in practice and classwork. You really have to get to know the kids before you can effectively pace. And THEN there are some years where you have a slower paced class and a faster paced class and you have to teach them both “the same” stuff. That’s super tough. And I love task cards to fill those spaces.
Sometimes I have just a few minutes that I need to kill. I love using task cards to go in and fill those spaces. Usually I’ll throw a few of those cards out among my students and tell them they need to answer three or four of the questions. It’s great to keep them working from bell to bell. It also means that I don’t have to have extra work set aside just waiting for them. Just having the cards for whenever I need them is super helpful.
Can Use Over and Over Again
Task cards are great because you can use them over and over again. I print a few and keep them in my classroom in these photo box containers. Any time I need to fill some time, or use them as a full on lesson activity, they are there waiting for me. They are great to use the day I teach the corresponding lesson, and for review throughout the year. Considering the number of cards on a particular topic, there’s a small chance that kids will redo the same question. And really, there’s no true harm if they actually do. I have my kids do the same worksheet all the time – especially for sub plans.
Differentiation and Illusion of Student Choice
Task cards are so easy to differentiate. I like to categorize my questions by concept and then color code. For instance, in my mass vs. weight task cards, there’s a color for solving for m, solving for a, and solving for F. Then I put each of those on a different colored card. When I give out the cards, I will usually tell my students to do three of four of each color to allow for differentiation. I can assign different students different questions. I can give one kid the tougher questions to stretch them, and I can give the easier questions to a struggling kid to get them up to speed.
When I tell them to answer three blue questions and there are six blue ones floating out there, they get to pick which three they like. This gives the students some choice in the matter. But largely, this is an illusion of choice. At the end of the day, I get them to answer three of those questions on a particular topic.
Turn Task Cards into a Game
I love tricking my students into learning. In fact, I kind of live for it. I love taking the cards and giving students a numerical goal either by color coded card or total number. Then we will race to the finish! Usually, I’ll have kids check their answers with me as they go. I will stamp correct answers with a rubber stamp and send them off to find and answer a new question. When there are bonus points or homework passes on the line, kids will really work for it. Since my husband and I recently moved, we don’t have a lot of close friends around just yet. When I get in the mood to bake, I will often need to get some of it out of the house before we eat cake for dinner or it goes bad. Sharing my late night sweet tooth adventure cupcakes with my students is also a great incentive!
Task Cards are Great for Test Review
Using Task Cards is fantastic for test review. It is super easy to pull out the cards the day before your test and use them. This is the way I use task cards most often. I also like to use them for stations review when the students are left to study on their own. When the cards are color coded, it’s easy to break up a set of questions into their own stations too. I leave the task cards out with an answer key so students can use them on their own.
I’ll be creating even more task card sets because I love using them so much. I have a few already that you can check out in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.
Looking for EVEN more ways to use task cards in your high school science classroom? Check out this post about the ways I use task cards in my classroom.
