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Taboo

A word game where learners must describe a key term without using a set of "taboo" words, forcing them to demonstrate genuine understanding rather than rehearsed definitions.

Discussion
Taboo diagram

What is taboo?

  • Create cards with a key term at the top and three to five "taboo" words below it
  • One learner describes the key term to their team without using any taboo words
  • The team guesses the term based on the description
  • Rotate so every learner has a chance to describe and to guess

How it works

Taboo reveals the difference between knowing a word and understanding a concept. When learners can only define "photosynthesis" by saying "it is when plants use sunlight and carbon dioxide to make food," removing "sunlight," "carbon dioxide," and "food" from the allowed words forces them to find alternative ways to explain the concept. They must truly understand the process to describe it without relying on the standard definition.

The taboo words should be the most obvious, surface-level words associated with the term. This pushes descriptions towards deeper explanation. A learner describing "democracy" without saying "vote," "elect," or "government" must engage with the underlying principles rather than listing features.

The game format makes this intellectually demanding task enjoyable. Teams compete to guess the most terms, creating energy and urgency. The learner describing must think quickly and creatively. The team guessing must listen carefully and make connections.

Taboo is an excellent revision tool because it requires active processing of knowledge, not passive recall. It also works well as an assessment tool: the quality of a learner's description reveals the depth of their understanding far more accurately than a written definition.

Classroom example

A Year 8 Science and Technology class in a Conwy school plays Taboo to revise key terms from their chemistry unit. The term is "atom" with taboo words "small," "particle," "element," and "molecule." A learner says: "Everything is made of these. They have a nucleus in the centre with protons and neutrons, and electrons orbit around the outside. You cannot see them, and different types make up different substances." Her team guesses correctly. The teacher notes that this description demonstrates much deeper understanding than the textbook definition.

Curriculum for Wales connection

Taboo develops the "Reflect" strand of thinking skills by requiring learners to evaluate their own understanding and find creative ways to communicate it. It builds cross-curricular literacy through vocabulary development and verbal explanation, and works across all AoLEs wherever key terminology needs to be understood, not just memorised.

Rainbow Curriculum's Thinking Tools lens helps you plan where vocabulary and comprehension games are used across your curriculum, ensuring key terms are genuinely understood across subjects.

Tips

  • Choose taboo words carefully. They should be the words learners would default to, forcing them to go deeper.
  • Let learners create their own Taboo cards for terms they have studied. The card creation process is itself a learning activity.
  • A common pitfall: allowing "sounds like" or rhyming clues. These bypass understanding. Insist on conceptual descriptions.
  • Use Taboo in Welsh language lessons by requiring descriptions in Welsh.
  • Combine with concept maps: learners who struggle to describe a term can use their concept map to find alternative explanations.

Source: Adapted from "How to develop thinking and assessment for learning in the classroom", Welsh Assembly Government, Guidance 044/2010.