1 goes, 3 stay

A cooperative structure in teams of four, in which everyone has a number. First all teams work out the same assignment, in such a way that every member can explain the result. Then come the visits: in round 1, number 1 moves one team on, clockwise, collects what that team has and tells what their own team has; the three who stay tell their work to the visitor who arrives at their table. After the visit everyone returns to their own team, where two accounts come together: what the traveller collected and what the visitor told. In round 2 number 2 goes, two teams on, and so on.

With the default settings the whole structure takes ± 20 minutes: 2 rounds, briefing and look-back included.

With the default times about twenty minutes for two visits. Two minutes to form the teams and five to prepare the assignment, both once; after that every visit takes five minutes: three visiting, two back with your own team. That is seventeen minutes of steps, and the preparation adds a minute for moving and two minutes for closing. A third visit makes it about twenty-five. Whoever prepares the structure sets each step themselves, in steps of fifteen seconds; if the teams already sit together, or the assignment was worked out last lesson, set that step to zero and the player skips it.

Two by default, and that is usually enough: with four teams, after two rounds each team has heard from all three other teams, twice through its own traveller and twice through a visitor. With six teams that takes three visits. The ceiling depends on the class: after as many rounds as there are teams minus one the traveller is back at their own team, and with four per team number 4 is the last who can go. So there are never more than four visits, and the preparation will not let you past your class's ceiling.

Number 1 in round 1, number 2 in round 2, and so on. The changing number is half the structure: with a fixed informant the fastest student goes every time, and three out of four stay seated all lesson without ever explaining anything to an outsider. Because anyone's turn can come, everyone prepares in the first step. Hand the numbers out or have them drawn, and have them written down. A team that no longer remembers who was number 2 at the changeover stands still just when the class has to move.

They host. The visitor arriving at their table has not seen their work, so they tell what their team has, and listen to what the visitor tells about theirs. It is an exchange in both directions, and at home the stayers tell what their visitor brought. If you see three students silently waiting for the visitor to start, that is the thing to fix: agree that the hosts speak first.

Make one team of three or five and keep the rest at four. In a team of five two students share a number and travel together, so three hosts always remain; a team of three has no number 4 and only hosts in a fourth round. Do not make every team a three: then two are left to host a visitor once the traveller has gone, and that is too few.

Three requirements. Teams must be able to arrive at different answers, examples or approaches; otherwise the visitor collects what they already had. The result must be explainable in three minutes to someone who was not there. And it must be workable in about five minutes. "What is photosynthesis?" fails all three; "work out how your sub-topic fits together and prepare one example you can explain to another team" meets all three. No time? Under ‘Set up & start’ the AI writes it for you: choose ‘AI writes a draft’, give your topic and year group, and you get an assignment to the same three requirements, which you read through before you start. Prefer Microsoft Copilot? Ask: ‘Write one assignment about [topic] for students aged [age] that a team of four can work out in about five minutes, and where different teams will arrive at different answers or examples. Phrase it so that every team member can explain the result to another team. Reply with the assignment only.’

In Jigsaw everyone travels: each member of the home group becomes the expert in one part of the material, works it out in an expert group and brings it back. The aim is that every home group ends up with all of the material, and that takes a lesson. In 1 goes, 3 stay one member travels per round, the teams stay intact and trade what they have already made: lighter, and done in twenty minutes. Take Jigsaw when the material falls apart into separate pieces everyone needs; 1 goes, 3 stay when each team already has something that enriches the others.

All three have people moving between tables, but for a different purpose. In the Gallery Walk the teams go past each other's work to give feedback on it, and one keeper stays at each table and writes everything down, for work that can still get better. In World Café the class talks at tables about the themes of one big question and everybody moves on; the sheet on the table remembers what was said. In 1 goes, 3 stay teams trade results: one traveller per round, three hosts, and it all comes together at home.

Three moments. During the preparation: walk around and ask a random number to show you their team's work. That is the check whether everyone can tell it. During the visit: watch the hosts, not the travellers; three people waiting in silence is the signal. And at the return: have what was collected written into the team's own work, and before the round ends say out loud which number goes next and how many teams on. The player moves on by itself when the time is up, so your hands are free for the tables.

It comes from Spencer Kagan's cooperative learning, where it is known as One Stray: one team member leaves the group to see what other groups have and brings back what they found. It rests on two principles that are clearly visible here: individual accountability (everyone must be able to explain their team's work) and simultaneity (all teams exchange at the same time). The LudensFlow version adds three things that make it work in a classroom: the number changes every round, the route is fixed, and the stayers are hosts rather than an audience. Why explaining yourself yields more than listening, we checked against Uncommon Sense Teaching by Barbara Oakley, Beth Rogowsky and Terrence Sejnowski.