PowerPoint 'Jeopardy' Games for the Classroom
The game show "Jeopardy!," which premiered in 1964, is a quiz show where contestants provide answers in the form of a question. While those contestants have to battle through grueling rounds of tryouts to compete for thousands of dollars on the game show, anyone can play a round of "Jeopardy!" with a PowerPoint version of the concept, including students. The game show's factoid-based setup lends itself to learning in just about any classroom environment.
-
Playing Presidents
-
United States presidents lend themselves well to an ideal classroom PowerPoint "Jeopardy!" game. Split the six columns of the "Jeopardy!" screen into topics such as "First Ladies," "Bills Enacted," "War Time" and "Nicknames" or devote an entire "Jeopardy!" board to a single president. Place an answer on each PowerPoint slide or divide the first slide of the presentation into the familiar "Jeopardy!" grid. Add type to all the boxes.
Foreign Lingo
-
Combine learning and language by turning a PowerPoint presentation into a "Jeopardy!" translation game. Using English words, fill out the six column headers with categories suitable to the class age level, such as "Colors," "Animals," "Clothing" and "Food." For the first round of the game, type a PowerPoint screen for each category in another language, such as "Bleu" for "Blue" in French under the "Colors" category. Students will have to answer "What is..." along with the English translation. Give bonus points for students or teams who know the origin of the language.
-
Memory Power
-
A PowerPoint slide show can meld two games into one when "Jeopardy!" and the long-defunct game show "Concentration" are combined. "Concentration," which also went by the name "Memory" in board game form, tasked players with revealing objects behind two squares. If they matched, the player got points. If they didn't match, players turned them over again and kept hunting. With a "Jeopardy!" board, players get a grid similar to the "Concentration" board except the "Jeopardy!" board is all numerical figures, such as $100, $200, etc. Cover the grid with something for the class to learn, such as state capitals, making sure each answer repeats in one other box. Use PowerPoint slides as the grid facade, where students select boxes from each row and column. The games have more than setup in common -- the iconic host of "Jeopardy!," Alex Trebec, also hosted the "Concentration" game show.
Getting to Know You
-
Introduce new students by playing a getting-to-know-you game using PowerPoint "Jeopardy!" Prior to class, have students fill out short surveys about their hobbies, family, favorite subjects in school, etc. Select six students at a time for the PowerPoint grid and place their names at the top of the screen. For the five $100 to $500 categories below each name, add one of the survey items, such as "Cat." Students compete to guess answers such as "What is her favorite pet?"
-
