Collaborative+Problem+Solving

Type
SOCIAL

Description
Math //Jeopardy// Game

Purpose
To create a stimulating atmosphere for content review and skills practice. To build community.

Range
Grade 6+

Fruitility
Students love this change of pace activity. The format allows for a lot of physical activity (especially if teams throw balls at a target instead of using a buzzer). The game ignites just the right amount of competitive spirit to keep things interesting. If both game-play and grouping are carefully designed, every student can contribute towards finding solutions to problems; the game has the potential to be a great model of shared problem-solving and //talking about math together//.

Features
This is a huge amount of work. In addition to game and question design, several logistics features will need to be addressed, for example, determining which team has buzzed-in first, controlling the entire category/answer choice and display system, and ensuring true collaboration. In my case, the buzzer was a distinct kind of soft-rubber ball; they were either different colors or else different kinds of (toy) sports balls. For the physical game design, I used flip cards held by magnets to the white board, my projected powerbook computer displaying a wiki-style program and JPEGS of slides that I produced in Keynote. Our game required three people to run it. Sometimes one student from each of the 6 teams would work away from their groups in a special competition called //Slates// (working on small, whiteboard "slates"). One problem: my design did not create true collaboration, therefore most of the thinking was performed by the same small subset of students in each team, and sometimes only rarely on a particular team. If I teach Math //Jeopardy// again, I will build in more explicit cooperative learning strategies. A review strategy is only as good as it is democratic.