Trivial Pursuitn< - a questionof digestionKim Garbett and Roger Lock

This educational game is an adaptation of thepopular board game 'TRIVIAL PURSUIT' [1].lt was used with 14/15 year old students as ameans of revising, recapping and testing a sec-

Science notes

Food and nutrition

Absorption and assimilation

Figure 1 Thequestioncategoriestion on Nutrition in Mammals from the Mid­land Examination Group [2] syllabus.

In attempting to make the game appealing tostudents care was taken to make the game as'professional' looking as possible. There werefour categories of questions (Figure 1) andeach was connected with a colour-coded sym­bol shown both on the game board (Figure 2)and the question cards. The category symbolswere connected with work covered in thetopic, for example the food and nutrition sym­bol has foodstuffs within a stylized glucosemolecule with which the students were famil­iar. The question cards were typed and lami­nated to give them protection and a pleasingfinish.

Most of the questions in the game wereclosed and testing recall. This is a commonstrategy with games of this type but it doeshave some educational limitations. It is notvery practicable to design games with openquestions as there would not be space enoughon the question cards for the variety or lengthof ansWers that would be possible. Closedquestions, however, do develop skills tested inthe GCSEand this does permit a wide range of

SSR, Dec 1990, 72 (259)

Alimentary canal

Enzymes

the syllabus topics to be covered in a relativelyshort time. It can be seen from the game rulesthat questions have to be correctly answeredon all subject categories to win the game.

The game is suited to a maximum of sixteams (pairs?) so that unless multiple sets ofthe game are made it is best used in lessonswhere students are engaged in a range of dif­ferent activities. Students enjoyed playing thegame, and periods in excess of 30 minuteswere required to complete it.

The basic game strategy lends itself to arange of situations in science lessons and canmake learning, revision and testing both inter­esting and good fun.

OBJECT OF THE GAME

The first player to return to the centre circleand correctly answer a question in a categorychosen by the player to their left is the winner.BEFOREattempting this question, they musthave collected all four category chips.

sT AIlTING THE GAME

All players' markers are placed in the centrecircle. The question cards are shuffled and

SSR, Dec 1990, 72 (259) Science notes

Figure 2 The game board

placed on the relevant symbol on the gameboard. Each player throws the die and thehighest gets the first go.

PLAYING THE GAME

(i) The player moves around the board inany direction according to the numberthrown on the die.

(ii) When the player lands on a category, theplayer(s) to their right asks a questionfrom the top of the appropriate questionpile.

(iii) If the player answers correctly, theythrow the die and move again. Thequestion card must be replaced at thebottom of the pile, face down.

(iv) If the question is answered incorrectly ornot at all, the player on their left (clock­wise) gets the next go.

(v) When a player lands on a category'sheadquarters (bordered section wherethe spokes meet the hub) and answerscorrectly, a category chip is awarded.

(vi) If a player lands on the die symbol they

must throw again.(vii) If a player lands of the centre circle dur­

ing the game, they may choose the cate­gory they wish to answer a question on.

(viii) A player must collect all four categorychips before moving to the centre circle toattempt a game winning question.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

TRIVIAL PURSUIT is the registered trade­mark of Horn Abbot International Ltd. Allquestions appearing in the TRIVIALPURSUITcard sets and the board design are copyrightworks owned by Horn Abbot InternationalLtd. The variation on the board design re­ported in the article has been approved by thecopyright holders for use as an educationallearning tool only.

The game board was photographed by theEducational Services Unit, University of Bir­mingham.

REFERENCES

1 TRIVIAL PURSUIT. A board game the97

Science notes

rights in which are owned by Horn AbbotInternational Ltd.

2 MEG, Biology Syllabus A for the 1990 exami7w­tion Section 5, theme lIl,Nutrition in M11:mnwls.

(Midland Examination Group, 1988).

Copies of the questions used in the game de­scribed here are available from Roger Lock,School of Education, University of Birming­ham, PO Box 363, Birmingham, B15 2TI onreceipt of a stamped self-addressed envelope.

K Garbett, Walsall LEA

Dr R Lock, School of Education, University of Bir­mingham, Edgbaston B15 2IT