SCRAMBLED EGGS

Buy a bag of those plastic eggs you can purchase in the spring. Put a question inside each egg. Each egg should be numbered on the outside. The paper on the inside, which includes one question, should also be numbered with the same number.

Divide you class into teams with three to five members on a team. Each team sends a “runner” up to the basket of eggs. The runner picks up one egg and runs it back to the team. The team reads the question and decides on an answer. They write the answer on a prepared answer sheet. Then the runner runs back to the basket for a new egg. Teams may have only one egg at a time. The first team to complete all the answers correctly wins the game.

In the fall, I found small plastic pumpkins. I used them for this same type of game and called them “Pumpkin Puzzlers” instead of Scrambled Eggs.

Move the game higher up on Bloom’s taxonomy by changing the straightforward questions into riddles or short essay answers. Make them think.

Caution: Even games the students love can be overdone. Use them sparingly and keep your eyes open for new ideas all the time.

Dauna Easley
Reprinted from Techniques, Sept. 2004, p.37