To prepare for a midterm, students participated in a game of Jeopardy to test their knowledge, engage with the section, and boost their confidence.
Before playing Astro-Jeopardy, the students had a chance to ask the instructor questions about the material. Then they wrote their own Jeopardy questions, which the instructor mixed into the questions she had prepared before class. They were split up into teams of two or three students.
In Astro-Jeopardy, there were five categories of questions with increasing point value. Each team was able to pick a question. If they got it right, they got points. If not, the next team had a chance to answer the question. During the game, the instructor kept score on the board.
In Elisabeth Newton's class at UC Santa Barbara, the students enjoyed the activity, but it was difficult to fit into a one-hour class period. Also, Elisabeth recommends having extra questions on-hand in case the prepared questions turn out to be too easy or too difficult.
The activity took place in the class right before the exam. The goal of Astro-Jeopardy was to increase participation, review the material in an interactive way, and to boost students' confidence.