[Informatics] A theory revision game

Roland Gesthuizen rgesthuizen at gmail.com
Tue Dec 6 16:54:11 AEDT 2016


Say Frank,

Mark won't mention this but we can each shout him a coffee by clicking on
the donate button on his website ... I have :-)

338 days to go by the way according to http://vceit.com

On 6 December 2016 at 16:41, Russo, Frank R <
Russo.Frank.R at edumail.vic.gov.au> wrote:

> Here you go Mark the first 50cents on your way to the million
>
>
>
>
>
> Frank Russo
>
> Mobile: 0409022197 <0409%20022%20197>
>
> Work: 9781 7700
>
> Daily Organiser
> Teacher:- Computing, Informatics, Robotics, Mathematics & Psychology
> AEU Branch President
> Consultative & Planning Committee Member
>
> [image: Monterey_Secondary_College_logo]
>
> Silvertop Street
>
> Frankston North
>
> Victoria, Australia
>
>
>
> *From:* informatics-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:informatics-bounces@
> edulists.com.au] *On Behalf Of *Mark
> *Sent:* Tuesday, 6 December 2016 1:36 PM
> *To:* Year 12 VCE Informatics Teachers' Mailing List
> *Subject:* [Informatics] A theory revision game
>
>
>
> Hi, time-fillers
>
>
>
> This is a true story.
>
>
>
> Since I gave up teaching, I have a recurring bad dream that I am teaching
> again, and I am wandering around a school, late for class, but unable to
> find the right classroom.
>
> If I ever *do* locate the room, I realise that exams are a week away and
> I have not actually covered *any* of the course yet. I awake in a sweaty
> panic.
>
>
>
> Last night, however, I actually had a pleasant and productive teaching
> dream.
>
>
>
> My kids were playing a game called 'Key Knowledge Kwiz'.
>
> It went something like this (with a little gap-filling done after I woke
> up)...
>
>
>
> There are two competing teams - of 1, 2 or 3 kids per team. Or 4. Doesn't
> matter.
>
>
>
> Each team prepares a list of IT theory questions that must have verifiably
> true or false answers. Maybe 5 questions per team member, plus some spares,
> just in case (as explained later).
>
>
>
> (Because kids create their own questions, the teacher doesn't have to
> spend time in advance writing them. So the game can be sprung at any time,
> and the creative responsibility is squarely on the students' shoulders.)
>
>
>
> Teams take turns to give the other team a question, e.g. "New York is one
> of the accepted citation styles."
>
>
>
> The other team says whether the answer is true or false (for 1 point).
> Team members may confer before answering.
>
>
>
> The answering team may then earn another 2 marks for either:
>
> - correctly explaining why the answer is false. (e.g. "The style is
> 'Chicago', not "New York")
>
> or
>
> - if the answer was 'true', giving a correct and relevant Fun Fact (e.g.
> "Fun fact: another accepted style is IEEE").
>
>
>
> A team is not allowed to pose a question that has either already been
> asked by the other team, or has already given as a Fun Fact.
>
> So, using the examples above, neither team could then ask a question about
> 'IEEE' or 'Chicago'.
>
>
>
> (This means that teams need to have some spare questions and/or improvise
> new ones if they suddenly find some of their questions are suddenly out of
> play. This adds a little improv spice to the game.)
>
>
>
> To add difficulty, if a team mistakenly asks a question that does *not* actually
> have a true or false answer (e.g. "Is a large company subject to the
> Privacy Act 1988?"), the other team can challenge the question (for 2
> points) and clearly explain why it is invalid (for 4 points), for example,
> "Objection! If it's a private company, its size is not relevant. It depends
> on whether the company turns over more then $3m a year or... etc"
>
>
>
> (Question-setters will be more careful when framing their questions if
> they know they will give away twice as many points because they carelessly
> ask a faulty question.)
>
>
>
> If there is a dispute over scoring, the audience can be the adjudicators
> and argue the merits of the question and/or answer until a crowd-sourced
> decision is agreed upon.
>
>
>
> The teacher only needs to make a final arbitration in case the entire
> crowd is wrong - but the teacher needs to prove that the final judgement is
> valid.
>
>
>
> After I woke up, I realised that the game may be useful to
>
>
>
> (a) fill in time.
>
> (b) help kids focus on very specific KK details.
>
> (c) help them judge and deal with dodgy exam questions in section A where
> none of the available options is correct.
>
> (d) anticipate common errors and frame questions to exploit them (as exams
> often do)
>
> (e) stop the teacher talking all the time.
>
>
>
> I must say that it was a pleasant relief from my usual horrible teaching
> dream.
>
>
>
> Now, I'm *not* saying this game is on a par with Paul McCartney composing
> the tune of "Yesterday" as he slept, but if I don't soon get a few million
> dollars and a Kombi van filled with nubile groupies, I'll be mightily
> miffed.
>
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Mark
>
>
>
> P.S. I guess this format could also be used for subjects other than IT.
>
>
>
> --
>
>
>
> Mark Kelly
>
>
>
> mark at vceit.com
>
> http://vceit.com
>
>
>
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-- 
--
*Roland Gesthuizen*
http://about.me/rgesthuizen

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can
change the world; indeed it is the only thing that ever has." --Margaret
Mead
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