Using a Modified Version of Pictionary to Help Students Review Course Material

• Main Author: Stacey N Peterson
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Microbiology 2017-12-01
• Series: Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education
• Subjects: Pictionary; games; review; small class size; scientific thinking
• Online Access: http://jmbesubmissions.asm.org/index.php/jmbe/article/view/1375

Many college professors spend the last week or day of classes reviewing course material to help students prepare for the final exam. A productive review session should be engaging and student-centered. Games are fun exercises that work well for reviewing material. Here I describe a modified version of the board game Pictionary to be used as a review exercise. The game serves as a helpful final review exercise in several ways. First of all, it helps students review important concepts in a random order (not in the order taught in class) and ensures a variety of topics will be covered. Second, the modifications encourage students to think deeply about a term/concept, provide examples and make connections with other terms/concepts. Finally, it encourages creativity, teamwork, and active participation by all students. I use this modified Pictionary game as a final exam review in both an introductory biology class for majors and an upper-division microbiology class. It works well for small class sizes (ranging in size from ~10-25 students).