Explore 7 Developing Historical Claims review games designed by a teacher to engage students and reinforce curriculum. Give students a break from worksheets and bring Social Studies review to life with a classroom game.

• Keep students on their toes with FRAZZLED, where every answer can reveal points, help the opposing team, or uncover a bomb that resets the score to zero.
• The BIG TERRIBLE Game keeps the whole class involved as up to eight teams answer together and watch their scores swing above and below zero.
• TRASHKETBALL™ gets teams racing to answer correctly, then rewards them with shots at the trash can to score points.
• Get students moving with SCOOT, where they travel from desk to desk answering task cards and recording their answers along the way.
• The TERRIBLE Game rewards correct answers with positive or negative points that students can strategically assign to their own team or their opponents.
• GRUDGEBALL combines question review with a battle for survival as teams fire cannons, sink opposing ships, and fight to be the last one afloat.
• In BUMP, correct answers earn students shots at the platform, where they can score even more points by bumping off opposing teams.

When it’s time to review, a little competition can go a long way toward getting students focused, participating, and having fun. Once the game starts, students start talking, thinking, and working together, with hands shooting up and everyone waiting to see what happens next. Once students know another game is coming, winning becomes a reason to pay attention, practice, and make sure they’re ready for the next one.

And it isn’t just something I’ve seen in my own classroom—research has found significant learning benefits from using educational games with students. See the research.