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Wheel of... Geology!

Rebecca Teed (SERC)
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This page first made public: Nov 14, 2006



Few classes are as well-attended or as dreary as exam reviews. In order to liven things up, divide your review questions (multiple-choice format) into categories and assemble the students into teams. Give the student teams names and allow them to study together before the review. During the game, the instructor spins the wheel with the categories written on it and reads a question from that category, and within 60 seconds, all of the students must give an answer, using classroom communication systems, many of which can be programmed for teams. The score for each team is the proportion of correct answers. The game can be as long or as short as desired and can be preceded, interspersed with or followed by questions from students. Geology Jeopardy is probably a more appropriate format for topic distribution, and less work than wheel-building, but seems less dramatic.

Learning Goals

This activity:

Context for Use

This interactive game is intended to liven up an exam review session in a classroom equipped with a course performance system. Really daring instructors could incorporate it into the exam (but allow students to opt out and do an ordinary pencil and paper alternative if they want to).

Teaching Materials

Wheel with various geoscience topics

This is really a trivia game. The only connection between this game and the "Wheel of Fortune" is the major prop and, hopefully, the melodrama.

The biggest challenge is building the wheel. It should be big, with names of topics visible from the back of the room. I'm still looking for a wheel-of-fortune applet which could create a virtual wheel to use in a web browser and be projected. The image on the left shows an example. Put together a list of multiple-choice questions, which may include actual exam questions, assigning each to one or more topics. Put them in some context (database, box of index cards, printed list) in such a way that it will be easy to look them up quickly be topic. Assign the students to groups early to give them plenty of time to study together. Have each team pick a name or pick one for them (the Fighting Turbidites, the Mighty Feldspars, the Amazing Trilobites, what have you).

For a large class, the easiest way to run this activity is with an electronic course communication system. Many of these can be set up for teams. Otherwise, feed individual scores into a spreadsheet, where they can be totalled and tracked by team. Have the students/contestants take their seats and get out their handhelds. A good warm-up would be to ask for student questions and handle these before launching into the game. The instructor spins the wheel, asks questions, and keeps score. The contestants should answer the question within a given time limit. Allowing discussion would probably be a bad idea. After it runs out, show the number of correct answers, show or announce team scores, and tell the students the best answer. Have one of them tell you why it is the best answer. Then, spin the wheel again and on to the next question.

Teaching Notes and Tips

A more apporpriate game-format and an easier one to implement might be a team version of "Jeopardy", which would allow the instructor to decide how many questions to include per topic, but having students pick the topics won't even things out if time runs out before questions do. One of the CPS manufacturers, eInstruction, even has a Jeopardy game packaged with their software. In any case, make sure to include as much of the game's fanfare as possible, including the terrible "Waiting for contestants" music.


There are no grades here, but one team will win. Prizes are useful only insofar as they keep the mood light. It could be something as simple as certificates for the winning team, or rocks, or cookies. Or all participants could be awarded prizes (rocks, cookies, both?) and the winners additionally recieve certificates, ribbons, posters, or whatever.

References and Resources

For more information about using handheld electronic response devices, see Classroom Communication Systems.

Sources for questions are numerous. The most obvious is the question bank for your own exam. If you want to beef that up, as well as mining the text and your own lectures and review sheets, here are a few sites with online quizzes that actually work:


Geoscience:Hydrology, Oceanography, Lunar and Planetary Science, Geoscience, Environmental Science:Ecosystems:Biogeochemical cycling, Biology, Geoscience:Geology, Education:Assessment:Exam, Geoscience:Atmospheric Science, Atmospheric Science:Climatology

Resource Type

Activities:Classroom Activity:Short Activity, Assessments

Grade Level

College Lower (13-14):Introductory Level

Ready for Use

Ready to Use, Meets Peer Review Standard:Anonymous Peer Review


Teach the Earth:Incorporating Societal Issues:Climate Change, Teach the Earth:Course Topics:Atmospheric Science, Teach the Earth:Teaching Environments:Intro Geoscience, Teach the Earth:Course Topics:Oceanography, Environmental Science, Biogeoscience, Hydrology/Hydrogeology, Planetary Science, Teach the Earth:Teaching Topics:Water

Earth System Topics

Surface Processes, Biosphere, Time/Earth History, Biosphere:Ecology, Climate, Geography, Solid Earth, Solar System and Astronomy, Atmosphere, Human Dimensions, Hydrology, Oceans


Solar system, Hydrosphere/Cryosphere, Time/Earth History, Education:Assessment:Exam, Solid Earth, Atmosphere, Biosphere, Climate, Human Dimensions/Resources, Energy/Material cycles, Earth surface, Ocean

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