About this activity
Ten pairs to compare and contrast, starting with the frame supplied: compare cats and dogs — both… but…; then summer and winter, a book and a movie, frogs and toads, the ocean and a lake, insects and spiders, soccer and basketball. The pairs get harder as the differences get subtler — cats and dogs is easy, frogs and toads requires knowing something.
How to use it in a session
Use the both-but frame explicitly and require both halves. Students given compare and contrast overwhelmingly produce only contrasts, and the similarities half is the one that needs prompting. Do the easy pairs first to establish the structure, then the ones that need content knowledge. A rough two-circle diagram on paper helps more than it should, because it makes the missing half visible. Twelve minutes covers three or four pairs.
What to listen for
Listen for the comparison words. However, unlike, whereas and both are what turn two descriptions into a comparison, and a student who says cats are small, dogs are big has produced two facts side by side rather than a contrast. Watch whether they compare on the same dimension — size against size — since comparing a cat's size to a dog's loyalty is a common and slippery error.
Carrying it home
Comparing two things the student knows well takes a minute and no materials. Two games, two teachers, two seasons — asking for one way they are the same and one way they differ is the whole task.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- Third through sixth, matched to when compare-and-contrast writing is expected.
- Do I need an account?
- No, all ten prompts play free in the browser.
- My student only lists differences. Where do I start?
- With the word both. Requiring one both sentence before any contrast forces the similarity half, and most students find it harder than they expect.