Economics Categories Game

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Here is a pdf version of the economics categories game that was trialled at the June Economics Conference with the basic rules!

The aim of the game is to score points for coming up with an acceptable answer than no-one else has thought of! The person or team with the highest score wins

Teams: Students can play on their own or in small teams (hint - the game works best with between 5-7 teams per class)

Before each round of the game you need to choose:
(1) A letter – this can be done randomly or a letter chosen by the teacher

(2) A category list from those provided

Each player or team then completes their card with answers that begin with the chosen letter for the round – all of which must be relevant to the category on the chosen list.

E.g. Letter H & List (2): “A service sector business” might generate answers like:

Hotel | Home help | Human Resource Consultancy | Healthcare etc

Points are scored if the answer written down is unique – i.e. no other player/team has come up with it.
Only one answer can be given per category

The game can be played over 1 or more rounds depending on the time available – choose how long a team will have for each round (hint - a good round can normally be played and scored within 10-15 minutes, even allowing for inevitable arguments). When the agreed time is up, all players/teams must stop writing

Players/teams, in turn, read their answers aloud – they can only read what they have written down! They mark their own answer sheets by circling acceptable answers – i.e. one that does not match any other players’ answers

5 marks are awarded for a single - an answer that no other player/team has chosen for the category.
Score 10 marks for a “double” where the answer given uses two acceptable consecutive words using the required letter e.g. production possibility, or credit crunch!
15 marks can be awarded in the very unlikely event that someone comes up with a triple – e.g. Mass market manufacturing
Creative answers can be acceptable but if one player challenges the answer, the class votes on its acceptability!
In case of a vote, the majority rules – in the case of a tie, the teacher decides (of course!)

We would welcome any feedback together with ideas for developing it for other subjects.

Economics_Catgeories.pdf