A gallery walk, where groups build a poster-style output and then walk around comparing others’ work, needs every group’s output visible simultaneously, which a single shared board can’t support without groups taking turns first.

This format works particularly well for review lessons near the end of a topic, where comparing different groups’ summaries reinforces material more effectively than a single, teacher-led recap.

A specific example: six groups analysing the same historical source produce six distinct interpretation posters along the wall, and a 10-minute gallery walk afterward lets every student see the full range of readings, something a single-board setup could only manage by photographing and displaying each group’s work separately after the fact.

Setting the same or related problems for several groups to work through at once, then comparing approaches, works far better when every group’s working can stay visible throughout rather than being erased before the comparison happens.

This format works particularly well for open-ended problems with multiple valid approaches, since the value of the activity comes specifically from seeing how different groups reasoned differently toward a similar goal.

A maths department example: setting the same multi-step algebra problem to four groups simultaneously, then comparing all four working methods on the wall at once, surfaces different valid approaches far more effectively than a teacher demonstrating a single method at the front.

Parallel brainstorming, where each group develops its own mind map on a shared theme, benefits from dedicated space per group so ideas can be added continuously without running out of room partway through.

Activities where groups annotate or add feedback to another group’s work need both groups’ outputs visible at the same time, which is straightforward on a wall with defined zones but awkward on a single shared board.

This works especially well as a structured rotation, where groups move along the wall reviewing several other groups’ work in sequence rather than only their immediate neighbour’s.

Project-based work that develops over several lessons benefits from a dedicated, undisturbed wall zone that persists between sessions, rather than being erased to make way for the next activity on a shared board.

Knowing a project’s progress will remain visible and undisturbed also tends to encourage students to treat the wall space more carefully than they might a temporary activity that gets erased within the same lesson.

This is one of the clearest examples of a use case that simply isn’t possible on a single shared board, since any long-running project would need to be erased the moment another group needed the space.

See how Chameleon’s whiteboard wall for classrooms give these kinds of group activities the space they actually need to work well.