Social Studies Around the World

One student is picked to begin the game. He or she will stand next to the desk of a classmate. A question is asked of the two students. The student who first answers correctly moves to the next desk. The other student remains seated/takes the vacated seat. The student who makes it back to his or her original desk first wins the game.

--Malina West

Trivia Trapped

Divide the class into two groups, and have each group take opposite sides of the classroom. The teacher asks a question of the students on one team. If their answer is incorrect, one of their players goes to the trap and is (temporarily) out of the game. If they answer correctly, the teacher asks a question of the other team. Three correct answers in a row rescues a trapped player. The game continues until one side's players have all been trapped.

--Malina West

History Relay

Divide the class into groups of three or four, giving the first person in each group a baton. The person holding the baton in each group gets a chance to write down the answer to a review question. If the person answers correctly, the baton moves to the next team member. If not, the baton stays where it is. The first team to complete four cycles is the winner.

--Malina West

Elimination

Divide the class into four teams. Each team receives ten balloons. The object of the game is to eliminate all of the other three teams' balloons. Teams take turns answering questions. A correct answer entitles them to pop any balloon of their choice.

--Jeff Trudeau

Electricity

Divide the students into two teams. Each team stands in a line holding hands. A beanbag is placed within easy reach of the last member of each team. A question is then read to the class. If a student knows the answer, he squeezes the hand of the person next to him. The squeeze is then passed down the line to the last person. As soon as he feels the squeeze, this person picks up the bean bag. The team that picks up the bag gets the first shot at the question.

--Neil Chalmers

Oligopoly

Split students into groups of three. Explain that they are in competition with each other to price the same good. They have a choice to price the good at $3.00 or $4.00. Within the groups, have the students discuss what they are going to do. Let them know ahead of time that if everyone in the class puts a four, everyone will receive 5 bonus points. If only one person puts a three, that person has captured the market and will get 20 bonus points, while the rest of the class gets nothing. If more than one person puts down a three, those students get three bonus points and the rest of the class gets nothing.

--Cari Sonnenburg, stolen from Mr. Bob Quinn

Pig Farmer

A basic economics/politics game that can get as complicated as you want. Basic goal: stay alive! Additional goals can be added--earn enough money to marry and raise children, win political office, earn more money than the rest of the players, make sure all players are well off. To start, give each player one of the following: land, money, seed, male pigs, or female pigs. Give them basic assumptions on the productivity of the land, feed needed by the pigs, etc. Let them trade with each other and see what happens to prices of pigs, land, etc. Add extra details to the game to teach various aspects of economics and politics. Add an export market. Add the possibility of capital improvement in their land. Establish a basic personal consumption minimum to stay in the game. Allow students to hire out their labor. Establish a religion that doesn't eat pork! Set up a political system to regulate trade, provide welfare, redistribute wealth, etc.

Choral Reading

Choral reading sometimes works as a way of getting students to pay closer attention to an important document, e.g. the Declaration of Independence. Give the students the selection you want them to concentrate on and divide them into groups of six-eight. Choose a director for each group, and explain that the group's job is to come up with an interesting way of presenting the selection. The selection can be divided into solo parts, duets, and trios or into parts for two semi-choruses. Students may have some difficulty at first. Letting the students listen to a recording of Vachel Lindsay reading his poems is a good way to get them started.

History Tennis

Give students a list of important events and dates such as the following:

• Norman conquest of England 1066
• Magna Carta 1215
• Hundred Years' War Begins 1337
• Black Death decimates Europe 1348
• Jacquerie 1358
• Fall of Constantinople 1453
• Martin Luther's 95 theses 1517

Select one student as the history tennis champion and one student as the challenger. Challenging student "serves" a particular historical event. The student receiving the serve must answer correctly, then serve up an event of their own. A point is scored when one student misses. The student with the last correct answer is the champion, and remains up front to take on a new challenger.

This also works well as a memorization drill. Students recite alternate words of whatever is being memorized (e.g., the Preamble to the Constitution). The first student to miss a word sits down and there is a new challenger.

History Expert

One person is the expert on the topic under discussion. The expert gets a place of honor at the front of the class, perhaps the teacher's desk. The other students can ask any question they want about the topic. If the "expert" answers incorrectly, the person asking the question becomes the new history expert and gets the expert's chair. This works well both as a closed book and as an open book exercise.

Fictionary

This activity is best done in groups of around six. An unusual (but historically important!) word is read and spelled to the group. Each person in the group writes a brief "definition" of the word. Each person hands in their definition, then all definitions are read twice to the whole group. Each person then guesses which definition is correct. Score three points for each correct guess and one point for each person who guesses that your definition is the correct one.

History News

Split the class into groups of four or five. Give each group a historical event to report on. They then put together a T.V. type news show, complete with relevant commercials, sports, weather, interviews, etc. For instance, a group doing the Boston Tea Party might develop a commercial about a new and improved tea that would resist salt-water damage. The sports segment could feature crate throwing as a sport, while the weather forecast might suggest good tea-throwing weather.

--Leah Bossman