I am teaching in a public primary school and am looking for creative games to play with the students. One of the problems I often have with games - especially games that require students to raise their hands first - is to know who was first. I am looking for some “buttons” (for lack of a better word) that will plug into a computer of some kind - even an xbox or other device would be fine - as well as some software so that the students could touch the button when they know the answer and the computer would tell me which button was pressed first. Any ideas?
[quote=“pengyou”]I am teaching in a public primary school and am looking for creative games to play with the students. One of the problems I often have with games - especially games that require students to raise their hands first - is to know who was first. I am looking for some “buttons” (for lack of a better word) that will plug into a computer of some kind - even an xbox or other device would be fine - as well as some software so that the students could touch the button when they know the answer and the computer would tell me which button was pressed first. Any ideas?[/quote] There are student response systems like Qwizdom or eInstruction CPS, but they can get pretty expensive.
In the US, many schools are starting to buy iPads for their students, and there are some classroom apps that can do the equivalent.
A question for all the teachers in Taiwan, are interactive whiteboards or electronic smartboards pretty standard in Taiwan’s classrooms?
How are the technology standards in the Taiwan classrooms compared to the US classrooms?
The custom paddles are expensive. Is it a lot of students or just a few? Does it need to be wireless? The best solution here is going to depend on these parameters. The solution could be as simple as an off the shelf buzzer system from a Jeapordy board game, if your need is simple enough.
If your school allows the students to have a mobile phone with them, any mobile phone that can send text messages, then a very low cost solution is text-message based responses. Basically, you put up a poll and give the students a short code number to respond to. They send a text to give a response.
You can probably do this with your own phone in a class, or use a service. One such solution is Poll Everywhere, polleverywhere.com . I don’t know if they support Taiwan yet, however. Full disclosure is that this company was founded by a classmate and friend of mine. I have used it as a response system for rooms with up to 1200 people to as few as 20. One of their key scenarios is to replace classroom buzzers, and they offer an education account, IIRC, for up to 32 or so students. You can cut off the responses once the correct response comes in, and I think you can also map each response to a specific sender as well.
i just googled quiz buzzer circuit & got several diy solutions that seem quite easy & cheaper.
Thanks for the ideas! The answer to your question about standard equipment in classrooms in Taiwan - there seems to be no standard. Most seem to have an LCD projector. Some have a common white board. (Keep in mind, I teach in Miaoli county) Only 2 classrooms out of 7 have the electronic white board. There is a $60 option that one of you pointed me to - I will look into that.
[quote=“pengyou”]Thanks for the ideas! The answer to your question about standard equipment in classrooms in Taiwan - there seems to be no standard. Most seem to have an LCD projector. Some have a common white board. (Keep in mind, I teach in Miaoli county) Only 2 classrooms out of 7 have the electronic white board. There is a $60 option that one of you pointed me to - I will look into that.[/quote] As for the interactive board, a $30US solution is the Smoothboard. And it is free if you already have a projector, Wiimote and IR pen because the download software is free.
We made one of those WiiMote whiteboards a few years ago. While it works with a single WiiMote, you’re going to need two WiiMotes to make it accurate, and after that, you actually don’t need any particular software. There’s a free web service called dabbleboard.com that worked well for us, and it also allowed real-time collaboration with people in other locales. We also ended up building our own IR Pens out of parts from Guanghua because the ones that are easily available don’t have enough bleed to their sides for the WiiMote to see correctly.