Chemistry for Everyone
Who Wants to Be a (Chemical) Millionaire?
W
James P. Deavor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC 29424;
[email protected] A classroom technique is described that heightens student and instructor enthusiasm and interest by using a modified format of the television game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? The technique may be used to spice up a lecture or for review sessions. It can be used “on the fly”, made up as the lecture progresses, or prepared ahead of time using transparencies or multimedia presentation. It has been used in a general–organic– biochemistry (G-O-B) course for lectures on carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids. However, it could be adopted for other courses or subjects, for either majors or nonmajors. The inspiration came on a Friday afternoon. I taught two back-to-back lecture sections of the same course. Halfway through the first class, when asking a question and getting a hesitant yet correct answer from a student, I happened to use the phrase “Is that your final answer?”, which is a common question asked of contestants on the television show. Several students chuckled as I made that query, and a light bulb went off in my head. I had an idea for how to spruce up a future lecture. I had published a game show format for use as a lecture technique in the classroom (1), and now this new format came to mind. The idea was so exciting that I decided to try it out on the second class that day—to do it “on the fly”. The Game The television game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? features contestants who must successfully answer 15 multiplechoice questions in order to reach the jackpot of one million dollars. Each question has an increasing dollar value that oftentimes doubles the amount in the “kitty”. Contestants who give a wrong answer are dismissed and lose either all or a portion of their winnings. If they do not know an answer they can opt to quit and walk away with their winnings. They also have three “lifelines” they can use if they are stumped: (i) poll the audience, (ii) call a friend, or (iii) take a “50:50” where two of the wrong answers are removed, leaving only the correct answer and one incorrect answer to choose from. I have used this technique in my class of liberal arts students. Attendance varied between 40 and 45 students. The score was kept on the chalkboard by listing all the dollar amounts in a column and placing a check by the last amount that was successfully won. It was used as the backbone of a lecture. New material was interwoven so that the questions were not fired at the students one right after another as in the television show. The first time I used this format I used the chalkboard and made up the procedure as we went along. That first time the class as a whole participated, sharing in one common score. The answer for each question was asked of an individual student picked at random, but the class as a whole decided if it was their “final answer”. If stumped on a question, a student could use one of the lifelines. The audience was polled by a show of hands. To call a friend, the contestant simply picked any other student in the class to help with the answer. I kept track of the score on the blackboard.
I tried this format several other times during the semester. Each time it was well received. The format was changed slightly each time, in an attempt to find the best use of the technique. One variation was to select the student to be the contestant via a random draw. In another variation of selecting the studentcontestant, the class was given a problem to solve. The first student to deliver the correct answer to me on paper became the contestant. Further variations will be tried in future classes. Class interest did not wane even when single students were used as contestants, since the class could participate as one of the lifelines. Polling the audience by asking for a show of hands was easy. If a student-contestant gave a wrong answer or quit with his or her winnings, another student-contestant was selected if time permitted. When the game was used as the backbone for a lecture and introducing new material the students in the audience still needed to pay attention. In a lecture or review session, the game could be used as an added inducement to generate extra-credit opportunities for students. It is advantageous to have a number of questions planned ahead of time, rather than making them up as one goes along. One difficulty in using the technique as the basis for covering lecture material is being able to complete the game show and cover all the desired new material in a 50-minute class period. I anticipate using the technique in the general chemistry portion of the G-O-B course. Possible subjects include units and measurements, the periodic table and its trends, and acids and bases. Conclusion Both my students and I found this format to be most interesting. The first time I used this technique I saw a lot of smiles throughout the period and as the students exited class. One student came up afterward and gave the simple yet very high compliment, “Cool class.” Students now often ask “Can we play the millionaire game today?” The technique is not used during every class. In fact it is used only sporadically. It is a challenge to develop questions that build upon one another when this technique is used as a lecture outline. For a review session or a stand-alone quiz, unrelated questions can be used. Overheads or HTML files for multimedia presentations can be prepared ahead of time. PowerPoint presentations can also be used. W
Supplemental Material
A Sample Episode covering a lecture on saccharides is available in this issue of JCE Online. Literature Cited 1. Deavor, J. P. J. Chem. Educ. 1996, 73, 430.
JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 78 No. 4 April 2001 • Journal of Chemical Education
467
