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#WMSwizards 2-9-18

How to make a Family Feud game for your class

Our staff had a great time playing Family Feud the other day, and you could do this in class as well. Better yet, get your students involved in collecting and analyzing the data to create the game. You could have students work in groups to create and administer some survey questions, then secretly give their results to you to build the game.

Here are some thoughts for tying it to curriculum:

• Math/Science Class: This is the obvious fit, as you are having students collect and analyze data, but you could also ask content questions that have multiple answers. (What is the most important safety rule? Name a planet in our solar system.)
• Foreign Language/ELL: Focus the questions on vocabulary you are learning. (Dame el nombre de una habitación en una casa.)
• Language Arts: Ask questions that relate to a book you are reading. (What weapon would you train with if you were selected to play in the Hunger Games?)
• Social Studies: Use it to review history or geography, or ask questions to determine background or bias. (Name a country in Europe. Name a country in Africa.) 

I'm sure there are lots of other ideas for tying this to other subject areas... art history, sports rules, review procedures, etc.

Step 1: Conduct a survey
The first step is to conduct a survey. Google Forms is a great way to do this digitally, I made all my questions in the form of short answer questions, because I didn't want to limit their responses to just my ideas. If you are having students create the questions, you can have each group create their own Google form. You could also conduct the survey on paper or better yet, face to face. Either way, make sure you ask more questions than you really need for the game.

If doing this in student groups or having one class create questions for another, make sure to emphasize secrecy in collecting and analyzing data.

Step 2: Analyze the data

• Next, you'll need to analyze the data. 
• If you used Google Forms, you'll be able to generate a Google Sheet of the results by clicking on Responses, then clicking on the green Sheets icon.

• You'll want to review all the answers for each question. First, click the triangle at the top of the column, then click Sort A-Z. This will organize most of the similar answers together.
• Next, you'll want to read each answer and check for similar answers. If you notice several similar answers, you can edit the responses so that they all match exactly, then re-sort. For example, if you want to combine "Watch TV" "Go home and watch tv" and "watch netflix," just paste "Watch TV/Netflix" over all three answers and then re-sort.
• Count the responses for each question. If you are using Sheets, just sort the sheet and highlight all the matching answers, you will see a count in the bottom right corner of your screen. I made a new sheet with a summary table so it was easier to see the top responses. (Generally, responses that only show up one or two times can be ignored. )

Step 3: Prepare the questions

• Decide which of the questions are best to use in the game. 
• Questions with too many different responses don't work. You need some consistent responses to be able to come up with at least a top 3. You can have up to 8 answers, but you'll have to use your judgement as to which ones really should be included in the game.
• Questions with only one dominant answer aren't very useful either, except maybe as tiebreakers or in the "Fast Money" bonus round.

• If you are having student groups do this part, have them submit their best questions and answers to you. Be sure to have them submit the number of people with each response in parenthesis after each answer. Ex: sleeping in (31)  I'd also suggest limiting the number of characters in their answers so they will fit on the answer board.
• Note: If you are doing a fast money round, you'll need to collect extra questions and you must get all possible answers and their totals, even if only one person said it.

Step 4: Download this powerpoint slideshow
Youth Downloads has created this free PowerPoint template. As much as I love Google Slides, there is no way to reveal the answers in the order they are guessed, which in my opinion, kind of ruins the game. Plus, this template has great animations and buzzers. You will probably have to rearrange the slides to fit the number of answers you need, but don't try to customize it too much, just plug in your questions and answers and go!

I chose to print my slides 2 slides/page so I was sure to have the answers in front of me, because the presenter view was hard to see on my screen. If you do this, you'll need to hand-write the questions on the slides, as they are animations that won't show when you print.

Step 5: Find a buzzer and a scorekeeper
I downloaded the Game Buzzer app from Cube 8 on my iPad and upgraded it for $2.99 to avoid ads. It's a simple 2 person buzzer that worked well for the Feud, but there are lots of other ways to do this... bells, buzzers, even a picture of a single buzzer on the table, that participants slap. (Think slapjack. Whoever's hand is on the bottom wins.) If you want to splurge you could get these game buzzers from Walmart.

Don't forget to choose a couple of students to be scorekeepers for you as well.

Step 6: Play the feud
We divided the staff into 4 teams of 6-9 people and it worked well, 2 teams playing at a time while the other 2 teams were the audience. Then the 2 winning teams each chose a representative to play the Fast Money bonus round at the end to determine the winner, but you could easily do this with 6 or 8 teams. If your students aren't familiar with the game show you might want to show a few minutes of a video like this one to help them understand the rules and procedures.

If you choose to do a Fast Money bonus round at the end, you will have to sequester the competing players until it is their turn, so they don't hear the questions ahead of time. We had each winning team choose a player and asked them the same 5 questions, but have your survey data ready.

Since they are competing against each other, you don't have to worry about repeating answers, but you will need to recruit someone to track the players responses and look up the point total for each answer. You can have them do this on paper, or in a separate slide show that you will play to reveal answers.

Step 7: Discuss your learning
This is the step that I always forget to plan for, but it's so important. Give your students an opportunity to reflect on the process, either individually or as a group. What did they learn from creating the survey? What did they learn from playing? What will they remember? Was this a good learning experience? Remind students of their learning goals and ask them how they feel they did and what they still need.