MakeTeams!
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MakeTeams!

Made by teachers for all educators.

Features

Balanced teams in seconds

Mixed-ability or grouped by skill level

One-click options for learning formats like , , and .

QR check-in for participants

Especially useful for big groups or groups that change often.

Save lists

And add skill levels, "avoid matching with" indications.

Save team names and roles

For example, pro/con or teams with a speaker and a timekeeper per team.

Privacy guarantees

No ads ∙ No tracking ∙ No selling of your data ∙ Europe-based

Most features are free. Cheap pro subscription ($5/year!) to help with maintenance and hosting.

Create teams for free

Jigsaw

Basic concept

3-4 tasks are assigned to the class, one per student. First round: students who have the same task gather and solve the task. Second round: new groups, with one student per task, explain the tasks and the solutions to each other.

Why does this work so well?

  • In the second round, explaining and teaching each other is:
    • a very efficient learning method.
    • a good way to promote respect between students (that's why jigsaw was developed in the first place).
  • The first round maximizes cognitive dissonance (students are faced with different approaches or solutions).

Tips

  • MakeTeams will optimize the groups to mix skill levels and avoid matching certain students together. Use those features!

Variants

  • Before the first round, each student tries to do the task alone (and maybe has to write it down to force them to be active).

World café

Basic concept

Multiple work stations are spread around the class (with distinct questions, problems to solve, mind-maps to draw, etc.). Groups don't have enough time to finish and then rotate to the next station (so they have to build on the previous group's work). One group member stays behind at each rotation to explain the reasoning to the next group.

Why does this work so well?

  • Groups change all the time and this avoids most problematic group behaviors.
  • Unfocused or unmotivated students tend to work much more and much longer because the groups and the topics change all the time.

Tips

  • MakeTeams will optimize the groups to mix skill levels and avoid matching certain students together. Use those features!
  • The tasks or questions should be:
    • distinct enough to not become boring after a few rotations.
    • difficult enough to provide enough work for multiple groups.
  • Adjust the timing on the fly to avoid having groups finish the task or become bored (one rotation could be as short as 3 minutes).

1-2-4-All

Basic concept

This is the classic “Think, Pair, Share”. You give a task or ask a question, students think about it alone, then share their answers in groups of two, then (optionally, mainly if the group is big) in groups of 4, then with the whole class.

Tips

  • MakeTeams will optimize the groups to mix skill levels and avoid matching certain students together. Use those features!
  • Ask the students to write down their thoughts in the first round. Without it, the weak students will just wait passively to pair up and get the answer.

Variants

  • A normal “Think, Pair, Share” without the groups of 4 step.