This activity contains resources and activities to help your students explore what higher education is and some of the opportunities that are available in the North East. Before you begin delivering these activities to your students, please take the time to read the information below.
Estimated running time: approximately 3 hours in total. Each section has a recommended running time but please feel free to flex this as needed. Activities can be delivered in one go, or you can work through them as standalone sessions.
Everything you need for the activities is on this page, simply scroll down to move through them. There are links throughout the page which are to attachments, please just click these to instantly download the content to open on screen. It will help to have the following resources in the classroom:
- Projector with sound
- Pens
- Paper
- A3 paper
- Printed Scavenger Hunt Worksheets
- Whiteboard with pens
The videos throughout explain the activities, and there are also instruction boxes as you move down the page help you on your way, that look like this:
| Resources needed |
| Teacher instructions |
| Suggested activity running time |
There isn’t too much text on the page, however we’d be grateful if you could read out the small amount there is in each section to ensure students get all of the information.
Extra bits of information for post-16 students have been added in bold text throughout the page with a light bulb image. To develop understanding of higher education and routes and pathways with these older students, we recommend facilitating discussions about these sections. If your students have any questions that you are unable to answer you can email us on info@outreachnortheast.ac.uk.
Social Media
We’d love to see what you achieve when taking part in this activity. Please tag us on Twitter so we can see what you’re up to, and don’t forget to use #ExploringFutureMe in your posts.
Welcome to Exploring FutureMe in the North East!
We have lots of fun activities planned for you throughout the next few hours to introduce Higher Education to you, and to help you explore a few of our options here in the North East.
First off, to introduce you to higher education, watch the video below to get started.
Our first activity will get your creativity flowing, watch the video below to hear what you need to do and get some hints and tips from the team. We recommend you work in pairs or groups for this activity.
After you have watched the video, you will have approximately 25 minutes to get your design ready to present to your peers.
| Resources needed | Pens, A3 paper, summary image (on screen to refer to). |
| Teacher instructions | Please ensure students have pens and A3 paper to use. Students don’t need to make notes throughout the video, we have a summary image attached below for them (please click this and it will download for you). We would recommend they work in pairs or small groups. |
| Suggested activity running time | 45 minutes Video – 15 minutes Activity – 20-25 minutes Design presentation & choose winner – 5-10 minutes |
Now you have got all the information, let’s see what you come up with! There were lots of hints and tips, so to help you with your design, click on the link below to download a summary image of what you could include.
Don’t forget to tag us in your design on social media, we would love to see what you make! Remember to include #ExploringFutureMe
Time to pick your favourite!
Each pair/group should present their institution design to the class, and then the whole group should vote for a winner.
Teacher – please help the students to decide the winner. You’re welcome to use prizes if you would like to.
Hopefully you saw in the video that higher education has so many options in terms of academics and social life. While some elements of your dream institute might not all be available in one place, there is a lot of freedom in higher education to make it into the experience that you want and create opportunities for yourself, whether this is on your course through things like placements, or socially through societies and events.
We know it’s not quite the same as being able to explore the North East institutions in person, but the next activity will give you the opportunity to explore some of the amazing higher education institutions that we have here in the North East. We have designed a virtual scavenger hunt for you across three campuses, so you get to see some facilities and student spaces and get a bit more of a taste for life at higher education.
| Resources needed | Pens, Scavenger hunt worksheets. |
| Teacher instructions | Please hand out worksheets. The three virtual tours for the scavenger hunt are linked below, just click the institution logo to be taken to each tour video. The total number of points available is 17. |
| Suggested activity running time | 30 minutes Activity – 20-25 minutes Answers – 5 minutes |
Click the logos below to take you to the virtual tour for each institution.
All institutions will offer the opportunity for you to have a look around their campus and accommodation, either on an open day or you can book a private campus tour in. If you want to have a look from the comfort of your own home, most institutions have great virtual options too. We want to really encourage you to visit any institution you are thinking about applying to in-person so you can get a feel for the place, see the facilities more extensively and ensure you’re happy with your choices. This is a really important step in the process to make sure you’re confident in your decision and that the institution you choose for your higher education qualification is on that feels right to you.
If you want to explore some more, HE institutions in the North East after today, click on the image below to download a PDF with more tours linked.
Now you’ve had a chance to look around some campuses and think about what your ideal HE institutions would look like, it’s time to find out more what it’s actually like to be a student at higher education.
We are going to introduce some key elements of student life and get you thinking about what you could be involved in while at higher education.
The second part of this section is in a game format so it’s time to get into teams.
Georgia is going to give you an insight into student life and explain the game. So, let’s get going…
| Resources needed | Pens, paper, whiteboard (for keeping score), sweets/prize |
| Teacher instructions | Split students into teams of 3-4 students. Game instructions are in the video below – please read through before beginning game. When you’re ready to begin, click the image underneath the instructions table below to download game PowerPoint. |
| Suggested activity running time | 30 minutes Video – 6 minute Activity – 20 minutes Tally points & choose winner – 4 minutes |
| Game instructions | The aim of the game is to guess the image with the least amount of squares revealed. Make sure students are ready in teams and with pen and paper. If possible, draw up a table on the whiteboard to record each team’s points (you can add a little extra competition for best team name). 1) Click below to download and open the PowerPoint. 2) Play slides from the beginning. 3) There are 19 rounds in total. Each begins with a clue and then the following slide has a hidden picture. There are 9 coloured squares hiding the image. Each team gets ONE guess per round. 4) Get students to select which of the 9 squares they would like removed to reveal part of the picture and they can decide if they want to make a guess, or wait for more to be removed. You will need to click this square on the presentation for it to be removed. 5) Continue to remove the squares one at a time that students have selected until each team has made a guess as to what the image is and written this down on paper. The answer for the round will be on the next slide. 6) At the end of the round, get a student from each team to go and record their points on the board at the front of the class. 7) Move onto next clue. At the end of the game, award the winning team with sweets/prize. |
| Points information | If students guess the correct answer in: 1-3 squares removed = 3 points 4-5 squares removed = 2 points 6 or more squares removed = 1 point |
Click image below to download the game PowerPoint.
While you are at higher education to get a qualification and further your knowledge on a particular area, the social aspect is also really important to the experience. Many students make friends for life when in higher education and it is the perfect chance to try something new. This will likely be the first and last time in your life where you have so much freedom to try new things, without loads of extra ‘life responsibilities’ in the mix too. You can sample so many different activities and experiences to find what you’re passionate about. While it can seem a bit daunting at first when you begin higher education because there are so many changes, we’d encourage you to put yourself out there and get involved with as many things as you’d like to, don’t miss the opportunity to have some fun at the same time as studying.
Share your points table with us on social media, we’d love to see your team names and your scores. Don’t forget to use #ExploringFutureMe
Time for the final competition of the day. We have built a quiz to challenge your knowledge on all things higher education.
It is up to you if you would like to take part solo or in your teams.
Make sure you have pen and paper ready to keep score, or if you are in teams, you can use the whiteboard at the front of the room.
| Resources needed | Pens, paper, whiteboard (for keeping score), sweets/prize |
| Teacher instructions | If the students would like to compete in teams, you can keep the ones from the previous game or select new ones. Please ensure students have pens and paper. If you are keeping track of scores on the whiteboard, we would recommend teams adding their points to the board at the end of each round. The quiz is fully hosted through the video so please make sure everyone is ready before you press play. |
| Suggested activity running time: | 30 minutes Video & Quiz – 20 – 25 minutes Tally points & choose winner – 5 minutes |
Congratulations! We hope the quiz has helped you realise just how much you know about higher education!
Thanks for joining us for Exploring FutureMe in the North East!
We hope you’ve enjoyed finding out more about higher education from the comfort of your classroom. Please let us know what you’ve thought about today, and don’t forget you can find out lots more about higher education and the pathways available to you through our website and social media.
If you have any questions about your next steps or want to discuss your options, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, we would love to help!
Teachers, you can find more activities delivered by our regional universities and colleges here.
