Three years ago, when I first came to Cambodia, I wanted the students to learn about QR Codes, in a fun and practical way. Before embarking on this perilous lesson plan one of my colleagues asked me who uses QR Codes anyway and therefore why should we teach it – good point. However, I had just returned from China where QR Codes are used by millions of people to pay for a huge variety of goods and services, so I had a reason or two. Let’s get to it…
QR Codes Treasure Hunt
What follows is a set of instructions for implementing a QR Code treasure hunt:
- Create 10 QR Codes – using a QR Code generator
- Each QR Code, when scanned, would link to a web page with a question about a given topic and a clue as to where the next QR Code is
- I split each class (20 students per class) into groups of 5, giving each group 1 iPad with a pre-installed QR Code reader, clipboard & answer sheet, plus a pencil to record their answers
- I started each group in different locations around the school, not too close to each other so as to not spoil the surprise of where the QR Codes were hidden
- At our school, we have 9 personal learning goals, which I also linked to in the lesson, such as communication, cooperation, adaptability, resilience, thinking, enquirers
- In the end, we all meet back in the classroom to go over the quiz.
I have to say the students absolutely loved it. They were so excited when it came to searching for the QR Codes that were hidden around the school. In the very next lesson, it was great to have discussions with them about where they had seen QR Codes around the city, such as in shops, cafes, and even on the back of some Tuk Tuks.