Board Game Assignment

DIRECTIONS:

Your group has been chosen by Milton-Bradley game manufacturers to create an educational board game to assist middle school students to understand Domains, Kingdoms, and cell organelles. You will field test the game with your class. They will evaluate your game using a peer feed-back sheet to see if your game is marketable.

The publisher wants the following elements incorporated into the game:

1. It must be a board game that 4-6 people can play.

2. Vocabulary and concepts learned in class over Domains, Kingdoms, and cell organelles, must be incorporated into the game to help

students understand the topic.

3. Various levels of difficulty should be used to challenge the participant’s knowledge.

4. Instructions should be typed and easy to follow.

5. Creative, colorful, interesting, and neat game board. It must have an appealing and professional look to it.

6. Minimum of 30 questions that incorporate the key vocabulary given to you. These questions may be placed on index cards. Questions should be

difficult enough for an accelerated student. Do NOT just have rote vocabulary questions. DO have application type questions. Examples will be

given in class.

7. At least 20 questions should include illustrations or reference some type of diagram or picture.

Grading:

Project/Test Grade (look at the rubric!)

Peer Grade

Partner Grade

Additional information to get you started...

WHAT IS THE NAME OF YOUR GAME?

OBJECT OF THE GAME: Decide how the game is won.

EQUIPMENT: What is necessary to play the game. (Game board, die, cards, etc.)

SET UP: How do you set up the board before play? How do you decide who takes the first turn?

RULES OF PLAY: How does a player move around the board? Are there penalties for wrong answers? How many players can play?
CONSTRUCTION OF GAME: What will the game look like? What questions will you use?

10 pts. / 8 pts. / 6 pts. / 4 pts. / 2 pts.
Questions on key vocabulary words and concepts. / At least 30 questions and answers. Well incorporated into the game. / A few questions are missing or are incorrect. / Some questions are incorrect/missing OR one could play the game without answering most of the questions. / Half of the questions are missing OR questions are hardly used in the game. / Many questions are incorrect/ missing OR very few are required to play the game.
Illustrations/diagrams/content / Twenty vocabulary words have been addressed in some way that includes illustrations or diagrams. / Between 16-19 vocabulary words have been addressed in some way that includes illustrations or diagrams. / Between 13-15 vocabulary words have been addressed in some way that includes illustrations or diagrams. / 10-12 vocabulary words have been addressed in some way that includes illustrations or diagrams. / Fewer than 10 vocabulary words have been addressed in some way that includes illustrations or diagrams.
Content and Difficulty / Questions and rules of play are of an appropriate level—not too difficult and not too easy. At least half questions are application. / Rules of play are age appropriate but some questions are too easy or too difficult. Less than half of the questions are application. / Game is a bit too simple for the grade level and some questions are too easy. / Game is very simple and most questions are too easily answered. / Game is not appropriate for the grade level and questions are too easy or too difficult.
Directions / Directions make it perfectly clear how to play the game. They are neatly typed with minimal grammatical errors. / Directions are typed but have 2-3 minor errors. They are somewhat unclear or a step is missing. / There are more than 3 errors. Directions are unclear and 2-3 steps could be added to clarify. / Errors in grammar interfere with understanding of the directions. Much revision is needed. / Complete revision needed. Many steps are missing or incomplete and it is very difficult to understand how to play the game.
Design and Creativity / Everything is neatly created and directions were followed completely. / Game board is excellent but some parts are a little sloppy. / Game board is complete but 1 or 2 elements are missing and it could be neater. / Most of the directions were ignored and the board is sloppy. / There is a game board but it is not colored and no extra efforts were made at creativity.

Unlike traditional tests with their emphasis on recall, this culminating project challenges students to exercise higher-level thinking skills—comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, and most important, synthesis—to complete complex problem-solving tasks. The project focuses on the key questions, difficult issues, essential understandings, and important concepts of the unit.

PEER FEEDBACK SHEET

Board Game Assignment

NAME______BOARD GAME______

Instructions were clear and easy to understand. (Circle one below that applies)

DisagreeSomewhat DisagreeN/A Somewhat AgreeAgree

All parts of the game were present and worked well. (Circle one below that applies)

YESNO

The game discussed learning terms and or types of information from the chapter. (Circle one below that applies)

DisagreeSomewhat DisagreeN/A Somewhat AgreeAgree

The board game was fun. (Circle one below that applies)

DisagreeSomewhat DisagreeN/A Somewhat AgreeAgree

The game was challenging but not too difficult. (Circle one below that applies)

DisagreeSomewhat DisagreeN/A Somewhat AgreeAgree

My favorite part of the game was…

I would recommend that the group change this part of the game to make it more fun…

Additional comments / suggestions

GROUP EVALUATION FORM

Name: ______Group Members: ______
______
1. What was your job? What were its good points and bad points? ______
______
2. Do you prefer working by yourself or with a group? Why? ______
______
3. Would you want to design another game? Why or why not? ______
______

GAME EVALUATION FORM

1. Were the rules clear? If not, what made them hard to understand? ______
______
2. Was the board attractive, colorful, etc.? EXPLAIN: ______
______
3. Were the questions easy? ______difficult? ______Did you understand what was being asked of you?
______
4. What suggestions do you have for the group that designed this game? ______
______
5. Did you enjoy playing the game? ______Would you play it again? ______