{"id":3493,"date":"2015-10-25T10:36:40","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T07:36:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.classtools.net\/blog\/?p=3273"},"modified":"2015-02-14T21:46:50","modified_gmt":"2015-02-14T18:46:50","slug":"factor-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/prioritisation\/factor-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"“Factor Auction”"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a great idea to get students to think more creatively about which factors are the most important to cover in their written work. I think I originally came across at a session by @MrsThorne<\/a> at the SHP Conference (who informs me that the slide originally came from @JiveSpin<\/a> – we’re a professionally incestuous lot, us history teachers…)<\/p>\n

The way it works is to provide students with the key factors which answer a key question (or, even better, get the students themselves to identify them). List these on the board, and ask students to vote for their favourite three. Add up the votes for each factor and write these alongside them.<\/p>\n

The example below is a starting point for an essay-planning session on the question “Why was Mussolini able to rise to power in Italy?”:<\/p>\n

\"4_DO_ESSAY_AS_FACTOR_AUCTION\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Then, students have a limited \u2018budget\u2019 to purchase five factors they are going to cover in their written piece. In other words, a factor which gained votes from 10 people might \u2018cost\u2019 \u00a310, whereas a factor which gained only a couple of votes \u2018costs\u2019 \u00a32.<\/p>\n

The clever result of this is that students are forced to cover a wider range of factors rather than simply cover the most popular and the most obvious. If you make the \u2018budget\u2019 correspond to the \u2018price\u2019 of the most popular three items in the list, this will mean that students will not be able to use more than two of the most popular factors and will then have to consider using some of the more obscure factors.<\/p>\n

Taking it further<\/strong><\/p>\n

The ‘Factor Auction’ approach could be combined with the ‘Takeaway Homework’ approach<\/a>, as per this idea by @ryandal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is a great idea to get students to think more creatively about which factors are the most important to cover in their written work. I think I originally came across at a session by @MrsThorne at the SHP Conference (who informs me that the slide originally came from @JiveSpin – we’re a professionally incestuous… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":195,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[202,206],"tags":[255],"class_list":["post-3493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-prioritisation","category-significance","tag-essay-skills"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4556,"url":"https:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/assessment\/lotus-diagram-templates-for-essay-planning\/","url_meta":{"origin":3493,"position":0},"title":"Lotus diagram templates for essay planning","author":"Russel Tarr","date":"August 26, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Lotus diagram templates for essay planning Overview I\u2019m grateful to\u00a0Shani Hartley\u00a0for introducing me to Lotus Diagrams.\u00a0These are graphic organisers that help students break down a question into key factors or arguments and then methodically summarise the essential knowledge that can be used to substantiate each one of these. In some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Assessment"","block_context":{"text":"Assessment","link":"https:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/category\/assessment\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Picture-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Picture-2.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Picture-2.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Picture-2.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":643,"url":"https:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/uncategorized\/target-diagram\/","url_meta":{"origin":3493,"position":1},"title":"Create a Target Diagram Online!","author":"Russel Tarr","date":"September 11, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"A Target diagram is a fantastic way of getting students to break down a key question. Three factors are placed in the centre of the diagram. In the next layer, each factor can then be broken into two examples. In the final layer, each of these examples can then be\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "History Teachers"","block_context":{"text":"History Teachers","link":"https:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/category\/history-teachers\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5429,"url":"https:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/categorisation\/new-target-diagram-generator\/","url_meta":{"origin":3493,"position":2},"title":"*NEW* Target Diagram Generator","author":"Russel Tarr","date":"January 12, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"*NEW* Target Diagram Template! A Target diagram is a fantastic way of getting students to break down a key question. Three factors are placed in the centre of the diagram. In the next layer, each factor can then be broken into two examples. 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Three factors are placed in the centre of the diagram. In the next layer, each factor can then be broken into two examples. In the final layer, each of these examples can then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Categorisation"","block_context":{"text":"Categorisation","link":"https:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/category\/categorisation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4251,"url":"https:\/\/www.activehistory.co.uk\/updates\/key-stage\/igcse-gcse-history\/the-rise-of-hitler-essay-planning-generator\/","url_meta":{"origin":3493,"position":4},"title":"The Rise of Hitler: Essay Planning Generator","author":"Russel Tarr","date":"August 4, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"This new essay-planning generator helps students consider how five key factors which caused the Rise of Hitler can be linked in various ways. The computer shuffles the various factors as a pack. 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