Activity Cite This: J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 416−418
pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Chemical Pursuit: A Modified Trivia Board Game Blakely M. Adair* and Lyle V. McAfee Department of Chemistry, The Citadel, 171 Moultrie Street, Charleston, South Carolina 29409, United States S Supporting Information *
ABSTRACT: A cumulative review of content in most college courses is often relegated to either a review session outside of class, during exams, or the last class. Students frequently become bored or overwhelmed. Games provide an interesting way for students to test their understanding of chemical concepts. An educational exercise based on a trivia board game has been developed for use in a chemistry laboratory as a review for the final exam in General Chemistry courses. The categories in the original game provide an easy way to categorize material for review. Since the laboratory period is 3 h and ends before the lecture, students have time to review more material and improve in areas in which they are deficient. KEYWORDS: First-Year Undergraduate/General, Interdisciplinary/Multidisciplinary, Humor/Puzzles/Games, Enrichment/Review Materials, Descriptive Chemistry
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BACKGROUND Chemistry instructors have reported using games and puzzles as a method to increase interest and improve learning.1−5 Many successful instructional games are modifications of popular board games.4,5 We have developed a modification of the commercially available Trivial Pursuit game for use in both endof-semester and cumulative end-of-year reviews for First-Year Undergraduate/General Chemistry courses. Categories were created primarily based on question type instead of by specific topic, so that material from multiple semesters or courses can easily be incorporated into the game. Approximately 200 freshman chemistry majors have played this game as a final exam review during the last 3 h lab period, approximately 1 week before the end of classes. This review occurred early enough for students to identify any topic deficiencies to study during exams. Student comments on endof-semester course evaluations and to lab instructors have been positive. Most commonly, students reported that it was a fun way to review. Other students liked that the review revealed to them how well they understood the material and where they stood with respect to other students in the class. Students in some classes were not as enthusiastic as others to play the game. Surprisingly, students participated more enthusiastically when there was a prize. The usual prize for the winning team was a pan of crispy rice cereal treats. Although we never included bonus points or a quiz grade related to the number of questions correctly answered by a team, this could provide extra motivation in other circumstances. The game uses the same board (Figure 1a), tokens, and scoring wedges as the original game, but the questions and categories are designed to serve as a review for freshman chemistry students. Sample questions and cards with answers © 2018 American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc.
are provided in Supporting Information. Instructors supply a playing board, one die, six player tokens (one for each team of 2−4 students), and 36 scoring wedges from the original game, and a timing device. If there is no original game, a printable version of the board with substituted tokens and wedges (see Supporting Information) can be used. The timer is used to limit the amount of time per question and allow teams a chance to “steal” a scoring wedge.
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GETTING READY
Students are divided into a maximum of six teams. Teams choose a captain and pick a colored token that has six wedgeshaped slots. Then, each team gathers six different colored scoring wedges. Each captain rolls the six-sided die, and the team with the largest roll goes first. The teams arrange themselves so that play proceeds clockwise in descending order of the roll. In the case of a tie, the captains continue rolling the die until the order is set. The instructor acts as a moderator and goes over the rules. Object of the Game
The teams move tokens around the board and correctly answer chemistry questions to earn a scoring wedge from each of six colored categories. The first team to end on the Hub and correctly answer the final question wins. Components of the Game
The board parts and color-coded categories are defined in Figure 1. The central Hub is where the game begins and ends Received: August 6, 2017 Revised: December 15, 2017 Published: February 1, 2018 416
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00946 J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 416−418
Journal of Chemical Education
Activity
Figure 1. Description of the Chemical Pursuit board parts (a) and definitions of the categories (b) indicated by the colored squares and triangles.
Figure 2. Examples of descriptive (green) questions presented using two-sided cards (a) or column lists (b) to separate questions and answers.
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(Figure 1a). A player rolls the die and picks which direction to move the token along the spokes or the circular path. Gray squares allow teams to roll again without having to answer a question. The color of a Category Space or Category Headquarters indicates the category (Figure 1b) from which the question will be read when a token lands on it. If a team answers a question correctly on a Category Headquarters, they put the earned scoring wedge into the token until wedges from all categories are full.
PLAYING THE GAME
Start of a Turn
First turn: With the token in the Hub (Figure 1a), roll the die. Move the token down the spoke the number of spaces that will end on the Category Space (roll of 1−5) or Headquarters (roll of 6) of interest, and answer the category question. Remaining turns: Roll the die and move the token along a single path the number of spaces indicated on the die. The direction of movement can be on the circular path, along a spoke, or a combination of the two, but must be in a single direction. A combination of forward and backward moves in one die roll is not permitted. For example, a die roll of 5 could not result in a move of 3 forward and 2 backward so that the token could land on a Category Space or Headquarters that was one space away.
Moderator
The moderator decides the best way to present each question to the class (verbal, written, or projected). The moderator asks the question and starts the timer. The team has up to 4 min for calculation (blue) questions and 2 min for all other category questions. The team captain makes sure that the completed answer is given before time expires. In the event that a written answer is required, the moderator decides if the answer is written on a chalk/white board or on scratch paper. Then, the moderator determines the correctness of the answer.
After the Die Is Cast
A team controls the board as long as they answer questions correctly or “Roll Again” after landing on the gray spaces. When the token lands on a Category Headquarters, the team can earn a scoring wedge, after which the Headquarters is treated like a Category Space. If the token lands on the Hub, the team choses any category unless all six wedges have been earned (see Winning the Game below). The team to the left gains control 417
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00946 J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 416−418
Journal of Chemical Education
Activity
of the board after a team fails to give the correct answer. If the question was for a scoring wedge, the timer is reset. The first of the remaining teams to answer correctly in time will “steal” the wedge. Then the team to the left gains control of the board.
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Winning the Game
AUTHOR INFORMATION
Corresponding Author
Once a team has won a scoring wedge for each category, it continues to answer questions until a roll lands the token exactly on the center Hub. Then, the other teams choose a category for the game winning question. If the team misses the winning question, it must leave the Hub on the next control of the board. They must continue to answer questions and wait for an exact roll to return to the Hub.
*E-mail:
[email protected]. ORCID
Blakely M. Adair: 0000-0001-5091-1505 Notes
The authors declare no competing financial interest.
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MODERATOR OPTIONS We have developed two different ways to choose the questions (Figure 2). The moderator may choose from color-coded cards (Figure 2a) with the color band on top of the question side and the answer on the other. The template is designed so that six cards can be printed per 8.5 × 11 page of paper or cardstock with answers in one column and questions in another colored column (Supporting Information). Therefore, it is easy to see which column is the question and which is the answer. To finish the cards, fold along the dotted line, cut along the solid line to separate cards, and tape or glue the front and back together. Cards can be stored in index card boxes with dividers so that students do not see the questions initially. One benefit to using cards is that students can pass the card around for reference instead of relying on the moderator. Another benefit to cards is that several games can be going on at the same time with the moderator acting as such. The moderator can also use question/answer lists (Figure 2b) where each file is saved by color and category. The lists can be stored in color-coded binders/folders, colored paper, or just colored marks on printouts to help differentiate categories. The printouts can be stored with other teaching materials more easily than cards. It may also be easier for moderators to walk around the room with the printouts than cards. The lists in computer files are also easier to sort and edit than the cards. The moderator may choose to display questions for everyone to see. The view of the cards or lists can be zoomed to display only one question from a computer file. The printed list or cards can be placed on document readers with blank paper covering other questions or answers. There are several ways to limit the time. The moderator may choose a shorter time after an incorrect answer for teams to steal. To further engage all teams at once, the rules could be modified so that any team can gain control of the board by being the first team to present the correct answer to the moderator after any incorrect answer.
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(8.5 × 11 in.2) with ideas for adapting to a small board and creating modified tokens and scoring wedges (XLSX)
REFERENCES
(1) Samide, M. J.; Wilson, A. M. Games, Games, Games; Playing to Engage with Chemistry Concepts. Chem. Educ. 2014, 14, 167−170. (2) Bayir, E. Developing and Playing Chemistry Games to Learn Elements, Compounds, and the Periodic Table: Elemental Periodica, Compoundica, and Groupica. J. Chem. Educ. 2014, 91, 531−535. (3) Russell, J. V. Using Games to Teach Chemistry. J. Chem. Educ. 1999, 76 (4), 481−484. (4) Sedney, D. L. Trivial Pursuit” for Chemists. J. Chem. Educ. 1988, 65 (5), 383. (5) Stenz, J. C. The “Chemical Pursuit” Tournament. J. Chem. Educ. 1988, 65 (9), 791−792.
ASSOCIATED CONTENT
* Supporting Information S
The Supporting Information is available on the ACS Publications website at DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00946. Blue category questions (PDF, DOC) Brown category questions (PDF DOC) Green category questions (PDF, DOC) Pink category questions (PDF, DOC) Yellow category questions (PDF, DOC) Orange/Red category questions (PDF, DOC) Tabs have cards for each category with questions for a two-semester review, with one tab containing a board 418
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.6b00946 J. Chem. Educ. 2018, 95, 416−418
