Appropriate for grades 5-12.

 OVERVIEW:

Botticelli is a game suitable for use as a review by a social studies class from upper elementary level to high school.

 PURPOSE:

The purpose of the activity is to review material resented in an instructional unit. It increases student familiarity with the material by requiring that the text and/or lecture notes be used to create identification challenges which are the main means of gaining points.

OBJECTIVES:

The objective is to review material in a unit prior to an examination on the unit.

ACTIVITIES:

Activities are as follows:

1. The class will be divided into two physically separated teams of equal size and (hopefully) ability. An additional student will be selected to serve as score keeper. The teacher (or, if appropriate, a designated student) will serve as a moderator. The word Botticelli and a scoring grid will be printed on a chalkboard easily visible by the students.

2. The game begins: Botticelli is divided into two parts.

Part A is a quick response quiz where 10 points may be gained or lost. Part B is an identification challenge with a possible 200 points at stake.

 Part A.

The moderator, either from a selected list or from memory, asks a toss-up question. This is a quick response question and the first opportunity to answer goes to the student that raises his/her hand first (in the moderator's opinion). This student then has 10 seconds to provide the correct answer. If no answer is given or a wrong answer, the question is offered to the other team. They have 30 seconds to raise a hand. If none is raised another 30 seconds is allowed for any student to raise his/her hand to attempt an answer. Ten points is given the team of the student giving the correct answer but this student must provide the answer unaided by any teammate. If a teammate attempts to assist the answer, the answer is void and the question is offered the other team.

Occasionally a student will attempt to answer the question before the moderator is finished reading it. If this occurs immediately stop the reading of the question and allow the student the answer.

If the answer is correct the team interrupting receives ten points and moves on to Part B., if the answer is incorrect the team interrupting is penalized ten points and the question is repeated -in full- for the other team.

 Part B.

Consists of an identification challenge. The team whose member correctly identified the answer to Part A's question huddles together with its reference material. Using the material they have two minutes to determine an item, in the unit studied, to present to the moderator (An example could be Robert E. Lee's horse, Traveler, for the Civil War Period). If the selected item is approved by the moderator the game continues.

The scorekeeper moves to the name Botticelli on the chalkboard.

The team that is required to identify the item does so by asking the moderator yes or no questions about the item. In each case where the answer is "no" a check is placed below a letter of the name Botticelli. The game continues until either the item is identified or all letter of Botticelli have been checked. Scoring is as follows: if the item has been successfully identified the team that selected the item receives ten points for each checked letter and the questioning team ten points for each unused letter.

If all ten letters are checked the score doubles and the selecting team receives 200 points. Conversely, if no letters have been checked when the item is identified, the questioning team receives 200 points. The winner is the team ahead at the end of the period.

 RESOURCES/MATERIALS NEEDED:

The only resources required are:

1. Student texts and/or notes

2. Chalkboard and chalk

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:

I used this game with grade ten students (with some modifications) and found it effective for increasing student familiarity with the material presented and their enthusiasm for the class. It has caused some "hard core" non studiers to page through their text diligently and, at times, frantically.