Trivia
This game follows the popular trivia format of a board full of point values and questions. Teams shout out or "buzz in" for a chance to answer the questions and earn points for the win.
What you need:
First, you will need to create a trivia game through the teacher toolbox. You will also need a projector so you can show your computer screen to the entire class. Although the effect is better with a projector, if you can't get one, you can have small groups of students watch over your shoulder. Your computer will need to be connected to the internet so you can play the game.
Setting up the game:
To create a new trivia game, you will need to think of several categories to organize your questions. For instance, when revieiwing a unit about chemistry, categories might include: chemical symbols, vocabulary, lab safety, famous scientists, if I mix... I get..., etc. There is space for six categories on the trivia board. You can use fewer than six if you like by not filling in a category and simply ignoring the extra columns during game play.
For each column, you will need to compose five questions. For our chemistry example, we will start with the famous scientists category. One question might be, "the father of the periodic table", and the answer would be Dmitri Mendeleev. Some the questions should be harder than others. The easier questions should be listed toward the top of the column. The questions should get harder as you work your way down. That way an easy question would earn 100 points, while harder questions would earn up to 500 points. We will suppose that Mendeleev's name was on several worksheets and that he was mentioned several times while discussing the periodic table - making this an easy question. An example of a harder question might be "lesser known German scientist who created his own periodic table" and the answer would be Lothar Meyer. This might have only been stated once in class, or perhaps was in the assigned textbook reading but not discussed in class - making it harder.
Let's look at an example from another category - chemical symbols. An easy question might be "He" and the answer would be "Helium". Harder questions would be "Fe" - "Iron", "Au" - "Gold", and "Ag" - "Silver". They are slightly harder because their abbreviation does not give you a clue to their names. A very hard question might be "W" - "Tungsten" or "Sb" - "Antimony", which are both non-obvious and not very memorable. Note that these questions could be reversed, where "Helium" is the question and "He" is the answer.
Playing the game:
Once you have your game set up, its a good idea to run through it once yourself to make sure it works as you expect and that there aren't any errors. Then, when class starts, divide the class into two teams. You will need to provide a way for the teams to "buzz in". Some schools have trivia buzzers to use. If you don't have access to a buzzer system, you can simply ask the students to say "ZZZZZZZZ!" and judge who buzzed first. If you find it difficult to judge who answered first, you can also ask the students to say their own name instead of a buzz sound.
The way you play the trivia game may need to adjust for the number of students you have. Small groups of students may be able to play together as a team, where anyone can buzz in at any time. Larger groups of students may need to take turns such that for a given question, one player from each team is answering.
Choose a team to start the questioning. That team will choose a category and a point value - "chemical symbols for 100" for example. You, as the game moderator, would then click the 100 point square under the chemical symbols heading. The players will read the question and buzz in when they are ready to answer. Then you click the appropriate team, indicating they are answering. The student who buzzed in has an opportunity to answer the question then you click whether the answer was correct or incorrect. The game board will handle the scoring for you. If a student answers a question correctly, their team gets to choose the next square. If the question is not answered correctly, the team who chose the last square gets to choose again.
Of course these are simplyl guidelines. Modify the game however you see fit to match the needs of your particular class.
Remember to SAVE your trivia game. If you take time to create a game, then leave it for an extended period of time - you will lose it and all your hard work will be gone!
create trivia game