I was introduced to Iron Chef slides at sessions I have attended by Jon Corippo and Cori Orlando. The goal is to crowd-source information and have students share it with their classmates in a short amount of time.
My first activity, suggested to me by Jon Corippo, was to have students research Parkinson's Law. In the slideshow, I added my directions and the secret ingredient, which is an additional piece they have to explain in their presentation. I then added 15 blank slides and labeled them Group 1, Group 2, through 15.
Students got into partners and I went over the directions with them. They would have 10 minutes to research Parkinson's Law AND create a single slide to share information. We discussed the difference between thin and thick slides. Thin slides, which have images, a quote, or single words, have the presenters actually talking to the audience. On the flip side we have thick slides which are filled with text and could be copied into a paragraph, these type of slides usually have the presenters reading right off the screen. I encouraged my students to create their very best thin slide.
On Google Classroom, I added the presentation to an assignment and gave them all editing rights so it would be one complete slideshow. As soon as the students were ready, I started the time and played the "Iron Chef" theme song to add to the mood. My kids flipped out! Some of them were really into it and others struggled where to begin. It was interesting to hear conversations during this time and how the students organized themselves with the work load.
When it came time to present, there were a few groups who did not finish, so we had a discussion of what their game plan would be for next time and what they learned from this first activity.
I have seen this project be done using vocabulary words, academic vocabulary, researching important people and so much more! Jon even recommended using this with the book, Who Moved My Cheese, in place of the typical Book in an Hour activity.
You can see my students' activity below:
