With a little creativity, board games can be converted into learning assessment tools to break the monotony of regular worksheet progress monitoring.
It all starts with a couple of simple changes to a board game such as replacing dices mechanism for promoting gameplay. Instead of dice indicating how many spaces a player can move, a challenging yet fun set of activity cards where students have to answer questions or solve equations to promote gameplay. Questions answered correctly equal game spaces moved.
It’s that easy. Give your student a new way to demonstrate mastery that in no way shape or form feels like a TEST!
5 easy steps to converting board games into classroom assessments
First, count the total number of game spaces required to cross the finish line.
Create 10 to 20 questions for students to answer in this assessment.
Divide the number of game spaces by the number of cards created to give an estimate of how many spaces each card will progress the student.
Build the student game cards so that the total number of spaces moved by answering 10 or 20 questions correctly lands them exactly on the finish line.
Track student's progress through gameplay. How many questions are correctly answered with respect to the total question available? Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Example: if your game board holds 55 spaces between the start and finish each game card could be designed to move a student 1 to 5 spaces.
The hardest or challenge questions could move students 5 spaces each time 3 cards available. 5X3=15 spaces used
Mid-level questions could move the students 4 spaces each time 3 cards available. 4X3=12 spaces used
Mid-level I questions could move the students 3 spaces each time 6 cards available. 3X4=12 spaces used
Mid-level II questions could move a student 2 spaces each time 6 cards available. 2X6=12 spaces used
Mid-level IV questions could move a student 1 space each time 4 cards available. 1X4=4 spaces used
Total spaces for a 20 question assessment = 55
If a student crosses the finish line without having to reshuffle their cards they have successfully claim pleaded the assessment at mastery level. If there is a reshuffle the student will score the number of incorrect cards for a score of ?/10 or ?/20.
