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

Abstract

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).