General tips on game-based learning

Not all games have to be the whole class time – insert smaller instances of play!

Simple is good when designing games; choose one or two main things you want students to get out of it and backward design from there

Games require testing and tweaking!

Embrace improvisation and surprise with your students

Own it! Be enthused! Get into character (when applicable)! Students will pick up on that energy

Activity ideas

• Scavenger hunt
  • Example: Gothic architecture at CCNY
  • Students completed the scavenger hunt in groups, and then scored each other’s findings
• Describe and draw
  • In groups of 2-4, have one student face the front of the classroom (the describer) and the others face away so that they cannot see the image project on the screen (the drawers)
  • Project an image of an artwork: the student who can see it must describe it to the others, who draw the image based purely on the description
  • After a few minutes allow the drawers to see the image, then rotate rolls so everyone has a chance to describe
• Jeopardy-style review game
• Exquisite Corpse
  • In groups of three, have students recreate the Surrealist drawing game
• Bingo review
  • Make bingo cards in which each square contains information for artwork, style, artist, period, movement, etc.
  • Display an image only (no other information) of various artworks that correspond to the options on the bingo cards
  • When a student calls bingo, ask them to repeat what squares they have marked to confirm that they correctly identified the images that have been shown
  • OR fill the bingo card with images and call out artists/titles/movements!

• Art Auction role-playing game
  • Forrest and Jess created a game where students get to bid on artworks and compete for reputation points
  • This is a large-format game that will fill a 2-3 hour class
  • Find the rulebook and materials here
  • Feel free to adapt it to fit your class, it’s easy to make the “lots” correspond to material you have covered in class

Featured image: Adeline Harris Sears, Quilt, Tumbling Blocks with Signatures pattern (detail), begun 1856, collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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