A student who volunteers to do this activity has their eyes covered.

A student who volunteers to do this activity has their eyes covered. I remove things item by item from my handbag and let the student feel and guess what the items are. The student practically does a "think aloud" (which can be recorded for reflection on accuracy) and asks questions and/or guesses the nature of the object. The rest of the students, who can see the item, answer the questions and cheer him/her on. Time is set (2 min should be OK). Similar items may require more detailed questions (ID cards and bus passes are the same size and material).

Since I have everything under the sun in my handbag (except for a dead German soldier, as we say in Hungarian), this activity can be quite engaging (wouldn't you love to know what your teacher has in her bag?).

For the purposes of teacher training (to demonstrate think aloud techniques), I've done this activity with more complicated items, like my granny's ancient, manual walnut grinder (taken to pieces, to make it more difficult) - an item beyond everyday use in Ecuador: we had fun).

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