With the end of the year almost upon us, we thought we'd take a look back at some of the most popular content on Promethean Planet in 2011.

This past year has seen Planet members pen a huge range of articles for the Planet blog, covering everything from lesson ideas and creative teaching suggestions, to technology advice and discussion pieces.

So, we've examined the stats and here are the top ten most-viewed blog articles published over the past 12 months.

1. What Can I Do with an iPad in an ActivClassroom? (Part 1), by Lisa Dubernard

Taking the top spot this year is the first of four articles in the top ten by regular Planet blogger Lisa Dubernard. Written back in August, the blog post covers one of 2011's hottest pieces of tech: the iPad. What marked the article out from the many other pieces on the Web about iPads in education is that Lisa specifically looked at how an iPad can be used to control flipcharts created in Promethean's ActivInspire software. If you've not yet read it, it's well worth taking a look.

2. QR Codes in the Classroom: Cool Idea or Not?, by Lisa Dubernard

In a double-whammy, Lisa Dubernard also takes second place in this end-of-year countdown! Covering another innovative classroom idea, in October, Lisa turned her attention to QR codes, which can be read by a range of mobile devices. This article went down a storm on Twitter, read it yourself to see why.

3. Teaching the Scientific Method, by Sarah Ratelis

Posted in June 2011, this is the first article from Planet's educator-penned blogging series, the Planet Teachers' Lounge, to appear in the top ten. In it, high school science teacher Sarah Ratelis shared how she walks her students through the process of writing a proper hypothesis and then drawing conclusions.

4. 5 Great Websites to Support Your Language Arts Instruction, by Kelly Gilchrist

Another post from the Planet Teachers' Lounge, this one published in March by elementary (primary) teacher Kelly Gilchrist. The article's title is self-explanatory, with Kelly suggesting some great sites for English Language Arts teachers to explore.

5. Teaching Inferences in the Elementary Classroom, by Kelly Gilchrist

Double congratulations are in order for Planet member Kelly Gilchrist, as she claims not only the fourth most popular article of 2011, but also the fifth! In this post, Kelly offers three activities that can help with the difficult task of teaching young learners how to make inferences.

6. Venn Diagrams – Fun Activities for the Maths Classroom, by Kathryn Scott

Back in April, popular UK-based mathematics writer Kathryn Scott blogged about Venn diagrams for the Planet Teachers' Lounge. Often viewed as a dry topic to teach, Kathryn described ways of introducing Venn diagrams that familiarize students with the concept but let them have fun at the same time. Kathryn also created a flipchart, which can be downloaded for free, to accompany this article.

7. Creativity in Teaching: Ideas for Comic Strips (Part 1), by Lisa Dubernard

It's another entry for Lisa Dubernard at number seven, this time with the first of two posts on using comic strips to spice up your lessons. In this piece, Lisa offered a range of ideas for incorporating comics into your classes, as well as introduced a number of the tools available on the Web for creating your own masterpieces.

8. Creativity in Teaching: Ideas for Comic Strips (Part 2: You Can Toon, Too!), by Lisa Dubernard

A couple of months later, Lisa Dubernard followed the success of her first post about comic strips with another great piece on the same topic. This time, Lisa focused on one comic-creation tool and offered a tutorial on how to use it. The Planet Team was so captivated by this idea that we even used it to create our own comic strip for a business meeting!

9. Teaching Elementary Math and the Tricks Up My Sleeve, by Pat Verhoeven

It's another mathematics article at number nine, this one written by US educator Pat Verhoeven. Now retired from teaching, Pat's still very much active in the Planet community and, in her first post for the Planet Teachers' Lounge, she imparted some of the vast knowledge that can only come from years spent in the classroom.

10. Mathematics Hints: Ways to Remember, by Marie Darwin

Rounding out the top ten is Marie Darwin's mathematics article, which she posted in February 2011. We all know that a good acronym or 'silly' phrase can be a great memory aid to help students remember the huge number of concepts that come their way. In this post, Marie shared some great ways to remember rules about angles, shapes, averages and more!

Although that's the 'official' top ten for 2011, we feel special mention should also be made for Planet member Marcella McCarthy, whose article Behaviour Management – My Top Ten Resolutions was posted on December 29, 2010. An extremely popular piece, it narrowly missed out on being included in this countdown by just three days! If you didn't read it at the time, it's a lovely read to see you into the new year.

We hope you've enjoyed all of the articles posted in the Planet blog during 2011 and we're raising a festive glass of mulled wine to more great reads in 2012!

Enjoyed this? You may also like Best of 2011: Top Teaching Resources.