What's My Line? (Full-Class Learning)

OVERVIEW

This activity offers a fresh approach to helping students learn cognitive material. By adapting an old television game show, students have an opportunity to review material that has just been taught and test one another as a reinforcement to your lesson.

PROCEDURE

1.  Divide your class into two or more teams.
2.  Write on separate slips of paper any of the following:
  • I am: (supply a person)            e.g., I am Karl Marx.
  • I am: (supply an event)            e.g., I am a “solar eclipse.”
  •  I am: (supply a theory)            e.g., I am “Darwinism.”
  • I am (supply a concept)            e.g., I am “inflation.”
  • I am (supply a skill)            e.g., I am “the Heimlich maneuver.”
  • I am: (supply a quotation)  e.g., I am “to be or not to be.”
  • I am: (supply a formula)   e.g., I am e = mc 2.
3.  Put these slips of paper in a box, and ask each team to choose one slip. The slip chosen reveals the identity of the mystery guest.
4.  Give the teams five minutes to do the following tasks:
  • Choose a team member to be the "mystery guest."
  • Anticipate questions he or she will be asked and think how to respond.
5.  Select the team that will present the first mystery guest.
6.  Create a panel of students from other teams (by whatever method you choose).
7.  Begin the game. Ask the mystery guest to reveal his or her category (person, event, etc.).  The panelists take turns asking yes-or-no questions of the mystery guest until one of the panelists is able to identify the guest.
8.  Invite the remaining teams to present their mystery guests. Create a new panel for each guest.

VARIATIONS

1.  Allow each mystery guest to consult with his or her teammates if he or she is unsure how to answer the questions posed by the panelists.
2.  The teacher may specify how he or she wants the mystery guest to act.  For example, a guest might actually try to impersonate the famous person being portrayed.

 

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