Quiz Ball

*When given the name of a baseball team, the learner will be able to identify the team's home city or state.

According to a 2002 international survey conducted by the National Geographic Society, American students are considered "geography-illiterate". Young adults in the U.S. placed next to last in a survey given to over 3,000 people from seven different countries. Forty-nine percent of Americans surveyed could not locate New York City on the map, and eleven percent could not find the United States on a world map. When students cannot locate their own country on the globe, it indicates the need for intervention.

Geography has not been stressed in American schools for a long time because it is not tested on state exams. Since it is not tested, most students do not see the value in learning geography. To get students interested, the possibility of a team-based geography game could achieve two aims of increased knowledge while having fun. Possible components could include different maps of the United States and a series of cards containing a variety of relevant information about each state. To add another dimension: economic (GDP), population, and demographic maps of the United States could also be integrated.

This game can be adapted for any age group; the difficulty can be adjusted by the content on the category cards.

The object of the game is to score more runs than your opponent. The game is over after the last inning. Score is kept on the scoreboard sheet.

The game is randomized with a hit spinner. The category cards have different levels of difficulty. The level of difficulty is determined by the state's number of visitors.

This learning system is a card-based baseball game that is used in small groups within the classroom. The system includes a gameboard, spinner, player pieces, content cards, map and a scoreboard. The game is simple to learn and does not require technology, batteries or electricity. Students can easily manage themselves in small groups, freeing up the teacher to monitor and confer with each.

The Rules

Choose two teams of one to four players. Flip a coin to determine who bats first (Visitor).

Play begins when the batter spins the hit spinner. The possible outcomes are (in order of difficulty): Single, Double, Triple and Home Run. The batter's hit will determine which deck of cards the question will come from. For example, if the spinner stops on Single, then the pitcher will pull a question card from the Single deck. The card's difficulty increases with the larger hits. The Single deck being the easy questions to the Home Run deck being the hardest questions.

The pitcher will read a question from the appropriate deck. If the batter correctly answers the question within ten seconds, then he is safe at his base. If not, then the batter has "popped out." The pitcher returns the card to the bottom of the appropriate deck and play continues.

Upon reaching base, the batter may choose to answer an additional "Baseball Challenge" question to steal (advance to) the next base, provided there is not another player already there. If the batter cannot answer the "Baseball Challenge" question correctly then the batter is held at base.

After an out, the next batter and pitcher are up. After three outs the teams change sides. The game can be played from one to nine innings.

The included United States map may be used as a visual reference, or as a way for players to mark and save their progress.

Since there is little time in an instructional day to teach geography, it was important to create a game that introduced students to geography facts. This game was designed with these factors in mind:

QuizBall was designed with these motivational aspects; randomness, speed of answers, competition, cooperation and variable difficulty levels. These elements keep the learner engaged (Malone and Lepper 1985).

QuizBall is inexpensive, simple to set up, easy to store and not require batteries or a computer to play.

Quizball gives teachers the option of assigning students to help create the game by researching geography questions and creating content cards.

QuizBall is expandable; additional content cards can be created for any category.

5. Patterns of elements as goals – moving from one base to another until a run is scored

6. Elements with differing levels of power – questions ranging in difficulty from Single being easiest to Home Run being the hardest

“Because facts can only be processed at the remember level, the teaching of factual information can quickly become boring and tedious."

"Learning must be rewarding or satisfying in some way, whether it is from a sense of achievement, or mere entertainment."

Clark, R. C. (1999). Developing Technical Training: A Structured Approach for Developing Classroom and Computer-Based Instructional Materials. Washington, D.C.: International Society for Performance
Keller, J. M. (1983). Motivational Design of Instruction. In C. M. Reigeluth (Ed.), Instructional-design theories and models: An overview of their current status. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Malone, T., Lepper, M. (1985). Making Learning Fun: A Taxonomy of Intrinsic Motivations for Learning.

Created by Rob Loeffel, Janet Saman and Gary Grant