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Effectively assessing student mastery of course material is always challenging,
regardless of the subject matter. Traditional assessment methods—namely written, timed
exams—tend to preference students who are visual learners; students with primarily
auditory or kinesthetic learning styles may be at a disadvantage.
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For these students,
traditional in-class exams may not capture the true extent of their knowledge. In
particular, some students with learning disabilities, especially variants of Attention
Deficit Disorder, sometimes find that it is easier for them to verbally explain the answer
to a question than it is to write the answer down. Therefore, I developed this review
game as a different way for students to demonstrate mastery over the material from
writing an exam.
The first iteration of this game was designed while teaching English as a Foreign
Language (EFL) in Ecuador (1996-1997) and Japan (1998). These EFL programs
stressed the acquisition of the “four basic skills” in language mastery—reading, writing,
listening, and speaking—and each exam was designed with these four components
present in equal measure. Once I began teaching political science, however, it became
clear that the skills being measured on the exams were entirely oriented toward assessing
student comprehension in terms of reading and writing. On one hand, this is
understandable and appropriate, since mastering academic material is different from
mastering a second language. But at the same time, I continued to notice students in my
classroom who appeared to be auditory and kinesthetic learners, since their insightful
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Visual learners tend to learn best through visual displays of material, such as reading textbooks, studying
diagrams, and taking notes to absorb the information. In contrast, auditory learners prefer to listen to what
others have to say, and then talk their ideas through to master the material. Kinesthetic (or tactile) learners
absorb material most effectively when they can take a participatory approach, and incorporate physical
activity into learning whenever possible.
Convention