Gaming Flashback – Jeoprady
When I was on teaching practice in my final year at teacher training college I used a Jeopardy” style game as an education tool. I used it to deliver the lesson’s content in a way that all the students can absorb. I did not use the television style where the student or team with the fastest finger on the buzzer gets the chance to answer. Instead, I slow down the speed of the game, read the questions and go into more information about the question. I also created the game in such a way that I could add teaching points in a summary and in a preview area prior to a question that allowed me to deliver additional teaching points. This method (game-based learning) kept my students alive, interested and motivated since they considered the experience fun. Sometimes a little fun is just what students need to be re-inspired, and games can be an excellent way to learn, practice, and review a lesson’s content in interesting and creative ways.
Keisha
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Julie S 9:06 am on October 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Nice modifications Keisha. I was in a team in ETEC 510 where we used the Jeopardy game as part of a course that we developed on IP Rights. I really enjoyed it. It took a relatively boring topic like IP rights and made it fun and seemingly more interesting.
Karen Jones 10:09 am on October 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
You bring up a good point, Keisha. Often I only consider digital formats when reflecting on MET applications. However, face-to-face experiences count as well! I used “Bingo For Suckers” to review with 2 classes yesterday, and it reaffirms how affective games are in engaging even the most reluctant learners, especially in a team format. Of course, the double ententre works for me, as well ;-D
Karen Jones 10:10 am on October 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
twb “effective”… affectively effective!
Everton Walker 10:31 am on October 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Keisha,
I still have a teacher-made one on my pc. I did for an assignment so I never got the chance to use it with students. I endorse your sentiment. The game really takes their mind off the classroom rigors and place them in a situation where sometimes they are learning unconsciously.
hall 2:41 pm on October 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Keisha,
That must have been a very exciting class. I have used Jeopardy game as a formative assessment tool in a PowerPoint presentation with a Physics class. They students were very excited and participated well. I have presented the use of Jeopardy with a group of educators who found it interesting. Jeopardy is a wonderful educational tool. Great choice, Keisha.
Tamara Wong 5:37 pm on October 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Keisha,
I love playing jeopardy with my class although mine was particularly low tech (paper and tape on the white board). I too, found that it was often the incentive my students needed. The only problem I encountered is some of my older students from countries where education must be serious didn’t like the games and treated it like a waste of time. I was never really sure how to deal with these students but with jeopardy often, everyone was excited to be involved and even the most stoic student got involved.
kstooshnov 10:06 pm on October 7, 2011 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Hi Tamara,
Very interesting comment about the stoic students who don’t really go for games in the classroom, no matter how serious the play. When I was tutoring at a cram school, these overworked students treated games like jeopardy or pictionary as if they were the only way they could effectively memorize vocabulary words. I suspect, however, that the simple games were the small relief from the parent-enforced studying, as test scores remained the same, no matter how many times we played these pretest games.
On a few rare occasions, we could step outside the building for an actual break, a chance for the young students to run around, yet the office staff saw this type of energy-boosting activity as a waste of valuable testing time. It also didn’t help that parents seemed to want their children fail (less than 80% btw) vocab tests, no doubt so they could cudgel them into studying more and having less free time at home.
So glad the cram school days are behind me!