mini lesson on a game for social studies review (5-12

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Academy Curricular Exchange
Columbia Education Center
Social Studies





James G. Movius, Carson Junior High School, Carson City, NV

BOTTICELLI

Appropriate for grades 5-12.

OVERVIEW: Botticelli is a game suitable for use as a review by a
social studies class from upper elementary level to high school.

PURPOSE: The purpose of the activity is to review material
presented in an instructional unit. It increases student
familiarity with the material by requiring that the text and/or
lecture notes be used to create identification challenges which
are the main means of gaining points.

OBJECTIVES: The objective is to review material in a unit prior
to an examination on the unit.

ACTIVITIES: Activities are as follows:

1. The class will be divided into two physically separated teams
of equal size and (hopefully) ability. An additional student will
be selected to serve as score keeper. The teacher (or, if
appropriate, a designated student) will serve as a moderator. The
word Botticelli and a scoring grid will be printed on a chalkboard
easily visible by the students.

2. The game begins: Botticelli is divided into two parts. Part
A is a quick response quiz where 10 points may be gained or lost.
Part B is an identification challenge with a possible 200 points
at stake.

Part A. The moderator, either from a selected list or from
memory, asks a toss-up question. This is a quick response
question and the first opportunity to answer goes to the student
that raises his/her hand first (in the moderator's opinion). This
student then has 10 seconds to provide the correct answer. If no
answer is given or a wrong answer, the question is offered to the
other team. They have 30 seconds to raise a hand. If none is
raised another 30 seconds is allowed for any student to raise
his/her hand to attempt an answer. Ten points is given the team
of the student giving the correct answer but this student must
provide the answer unaided by any teammate. If a teammate
attempts to assist the answer, the answer is void and the question
is offered the other team.

Occasionally a student will attempt to answer the question before
the moderator is finished reading it. If this occurs immediately
stop the reading of the question and allow the student the answer.
If the answer is correct the team interrupting receives ten points
and moves on to Part B., if the answer is incorrect the team
interrupting is penalized ten points and the question is repeated
-in full- for the other team.

Part B. Consists of an identification challenge. The team whose
member correctly identified the answer to Part A's question
huddles together with its reference material. Using the material
they have two minutes to determine an item, in the unit studied,
to present to the moderator (An example could be Robert E. Lee's
horse, Traveller, for the Civil War Period). If the selected item
is approved by the moderator the game continues.

The scorekeeper moves to the name Botticelli on the chalkboard.
The team that is required to identify the item does so by asking
the moderator yes or no questions about the item. In each case
where the answer is "no" a check is placed below a letter of the
name Botticelli. The game continues until either the item is
identified or all letter of Botticelli have been checked. Scoring
is as follows: if the item has been successfully identified the
team that selected the item receives ten points for each checked
letter and the questioning team ten points for each unused letter.
If all ten letters are checked the score doubles and the selecting
team receives 200 points. Conversely, if no letters have been
checked when the item is identified, the questioning team receives
200 points. The winner is the team ahead at the end of the
period.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS NEEDED: The only resources required are:

1. Student texts and/or notes
2. Chalkboard and chalk

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER: I have used this game with seventh and
eighth grades for the past nineteen years and have found it
effective for increasing student familiarity with the material
presented and their enthusiasm for the class. I has caused some
"hard core" non studiers to page through their text diligently
and, at times, frantically.