5.8 Gallery Tour

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Gallery Tour, also known as Gallery Walk, is a CL technique that involves groups working together with the goal of making a presentation to the rest of the class or an even larger audience. One teacher who has made use of the Gallery Tour technique is Navinder Kaur Dhiraj Singh, an upper secondary school teacher in Malaysia. In Navinder’s case, the students worked in groups to design posters and presentations about ecosystems; other classes and teachers at their school were the audience.

Step 1: Teachers explain that in Gallery Tour, students work in groups of four members to create posters. The class discusses the topics for their posters. For example, each group could do a poster on a different Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), or the entire class could all create posters on the same SDG.

Step 2: Each group member researches the topic of their group’s poster. This promotes the CL principles of individual accountability and equal opportunity to participate.

Step 3: Teachers lead a mini lesson in which students contribute ideas about how to create attractive and informative posters, as well as very brief presentations to accompany their posters.

Step 4: Each group designs a draft of their poster. They receive feedback from teachers and other groups, perhaps using the CL technique Friendly Spy (explained later in the course), and then perform a presentation version of their poster. They also practice the very brief presentation to accompany their poster.

Step 5: Groups all display their posters on the classroom walls, creating a poster gallery. One group member stands next to their group’s poster. These students are the Presenters. The other group members tour the poster gallery. These are the Tourists. The Presenters talk about their posters, and the Tourists ask questions and provide feedback.

Step 6: The roles of Presenter and Tourist rotate so that everyone has a chance to take both roles.

Variations

  • Instead of presenting to classmates, students can present to other classes at the same level, classes of younger students, or to members of the public.
  • Instead of using posters, students can present on electronic devices such as tablets.
  • Instead of having one member of each group stand next to their poster to receive and respond to feedback, each group can put a feedback box next to their poster. When members of other groups view the poster, they can leave notes with their names on them, and the group that made the poster can respond in writing or in person.


Reflective Break

How could you modify Gallery Tour to include students who are good with words and ideas but not good at drawing?

 

Sample Response

I believe that whoever is especially good at something, such as drawing or writing, should not be the one who always has the responsibility to do their specialty. Instead, they should coach the other group members, so that everyone can develop in an all-around way. This also balances the helping in the group. For example, you help me with writing, and another time, I help you with drawing.


Last modified: Thursday, 20 March 2025, 1:51 AM