Game-based Learning Activities

You've probably used (or at least know others who have used) review games as a means of preparing students for an exam or important evaluation. Playing Jeopardy is a classic example of a game-based learning activity: a single lesson designed as a game with the purpose of instructing students.

Expand the menus below for several games you can use in your classroom, both high and low tech.

Low Tech

• Jenga
• Color Cards
• Sorting Challenge
• Dice
• I Have, Who Has?

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Jenga

A simple set of Jenga blocks can turn a simple review into a tense battle of wits and dexterity.

Here's one way to organize the game:

1. Split the class into two teams.
   
2. Give each team a question and have them write the answer down.
3. If the answer is correct, the team must draw 2 blocks from the Jenga tower. If it's incorrect, they must draw 4!
4. When a team knocks the tower over, the other team gets one point.
5. Play until you run out of questions. Whoever has the most points wins.

That's just one way to use Jenga in the class. To see some other ways it's been done, check out this blog post.

"Jenga distorted" by Guma89 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jenga_distorted.jpg#/media/File:Jenga_distorted.jpg

Color Cards

1. Divide the class into four teams.
   
2. Give each team a stack of uniquely colored index cards (one team gets all blue, another team all pink, etc.).
   
3. Present a question to the class. Teams must write their answer down on a card and hold it high in the air.
4. As cards are raised, collect them and keep them in order of fastest answer to slowest.
5. Teams get no points if they are incorrect. Correct answers score more points based on how fast they answered, as follows: first place gets 5, second gets 3, third gets 2, and fourth gets 1.
6. The team with the most points after all questions are complete wins.

Sorting Challenge

This game is used when you want students to be able to classify information into two different categories, such as true or false, correct or incorrect, hypothesis or result, synthesis or analysis, etc.

1. Print out numbered slips of paper (such as these), each with a different statement.

2. Divide the class into teams and give each team an identical stack of the paper slips.

3. Tell students the goal: to sort the slips into two stacks (based on whatever criteria you choose). Once they think they have it correct, one team member should bring the stacks to you.

4. Start a timer and let them begin.

5. All teams start with 20 points:

• For every minute that passes before a team completes the challenge, the team loses a point.
• Every time a team brings an incorrect solution to you, they lose 2 points.

Sorting Challenge Examples

True statement or false?

Correct APA citation or incorrect?

Proper formula or not?

Reduced fraction or not?

Informative thesis or persuasive?

Dice

Dice bring back nostalgic feelings of childhood games and also introduce the exciting element of random chance into an environment that is usually highly structured.

This video demonstrates one teacher who uses dice to randomly choose students to respond in class. Here are a few other ideas:

• Every week, make groups roll dice. Whichever group rolls the lowest has to summarize that week's readings for the class.
• At the beginning of every class, roll two six-sided dice. If you roll a 9 or higher, the class has a pop quiz.
• At the beginning of class, let every student who is present and on time roll one die. If they get a 6, they get extra credit (or some other reward).

Alternative Method

In this article, Glenn Wiebe describes a different way of playing "I have, who has?"

Instead of making it a full class game, Glenn has his students wander around to find the match to their card. When they succeed, the two students switch cards. Play continues until the teacher says stop.

I have, Who has?

This is a great game to reinforce vocabulary, math facts, or other concepts that require association of two ideas.

1. Create a set of cards, each with two phrases: "I have ______." and "Who has ______?"
2. Fill in the blanks with vocab words, definitions, math facts, equations, etc. (See some examples here and here). Think of the "I have" statements as the answers and the "Who has" statements as the questions.
   
3. Give each student one card.
4. Pick one student to start the game. They read their card. The rest of the students must look at their own cards. Whoever has the appropriate "I have" answer" must read their card.
   
5. Repeat until everyone has taken a turn.

Download a free I have, Who has? template here.

High Tech

• Jeopardy!
• Kahoot!
• Arcade Games
• Score Board

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Jeopardy!

Perhaps the most common review game known to teacher-kind. Students love Jeopardy! because it's familiar. Don't reserve it just for exam reviews. Jeopardy! makes a great reading quiz too!

If you play as a competitive game, consider taking steps to prevent losing teams from just giving up and disengaging. For example, rather than requiring teams to "buzz in" the fastest, you might always give the first attempt to the team with the lowest score, or simply take turns.

While you can certainly play Jeopardy with old fashioned card stock or poster board, this one falls under the high tech category because most instructors prefer to use a PowerPoint template, such as this one: Jeopardy! PowerPoint template.

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Image by SethAllen623 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Kahoot!

The upbeat quiz show music is just one great reason students and teachers love Kahoot!, a web-based student response system that allows your class to answer multiple choice questions from a computer or mobile device.

It's a ton of fun, an excellent formative assessment, and can be used for individual or group quiz games.

Create a free account at https://getkahoot.com/

Press START to play a sample game!

Arcade Games

This awesome game generator from ClassTools.net lets you transform any question-answer set into a retro arcade game.

Just type in your questions and answers, and the generator creates up to five different games. These quiz games provide an engaging way for students to practice on their own.

Access the Arcade Game Generator here.

Score Board

If you are looking to add a little bit of pizazz to any team game, try out this score board.

Just type in up to 4 team names, hit start, and get going.

The score board features engaging background music, game-like sound effects, and a built-in timer.

Best Practices

• Debrief
• Low Stakes
• More Than Review

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Debrief

Games should be more than fun. They should be informative.

After any game activity, it's important that you spend a few minutes debriefing with the students so that they don't miss the point of the activity.

For example, if you play a game to reinforce students on concepts from the reading, you could use your debrief time to clarify any misconceptions that turned up during the game

Low Stakes

Avoid diminishing the fun of a game by tying it to a grade or extra credit. Raising the stakes on a game may cause students to resent the game rather than become immersed in it.

People don't typically play Monopoly or UNO for a prize. They play for the fun. Keep that in mind for your games too!

Even if you worry that some students won't be receptive to a game, remember that MOST students would likely learn much more from a game than a lecture.

More Than Review

Too often we only use games for exam reviews, but they can be just as powerful first-time learning experiences as well. Consider replacing a lecture with a game in the typical pedagogical structure:

INSTEAD OF...

1. Reading
2. Lecture
   
3. Practice
4. Assessment

TRY...

1. Reading
2. Game
   
3. Practice
4. Assessment