Introduction
This was essentially a revision exercise aimed to prepare students for the annual exam. However it managed to keep students on task much more than any past paper ever did (even though it included past paper questions essentially).
The gameplay
Initially students were put into teams of 2 or 3 and then we had 4 game tables with 2 teams playing each other at each table. We played 3 rounds to determine the winning and losing team at each table.
- Each game card had a multiple choice question and its answer at the bottom
- Groups won a point for each correctly answered question
- Groups lost a point if the bomb exploded in their hands.
- Students were aware that in the final round the deck would involve 50% new questions and 50% questions from their current pack – this meant they were very attentive to the answers of all questions being asked.
- After each round an elminiated team was brought back into the game by a special ‘best-out-of-5’ round of questions. (The precise structure was not as important of course as keeping all students aware that they could be back in the game at any point and hence not be alienated form the questions being asked.)
Critical Refletion
Students loved this activity: they were very much engaged and I think that as a revision exercise it was very successful, especially as the cards allowed students to manage the quiz quite independently of the teacher.
Side note: Card-based Activities
During a scholastic year where our internet connection was entirely unreliable, I relied heavily on card-games. Be it for self-testing games like Make-31 below or for tasks that helped students complete their notes like the Printer Comparison Activity also shown below.
An expensive option
I felt that students enjoyed card-based activities as well as computer-based ones, however they tend to be far more expensive to produce in terms of both time and money.
Resources
- What is Pass the Bomb?
class4d21st.school.blog 