EDPC 603 Week 7 Trivia Crack and Motivation

TRIVIA CRACK

Growing up I have always loved any type of Trivia game, my daughter is the same way. The game I chose is both for entertainment and learning-Trivia Crack. This game is currently an app on the Android and iOS platform.  I currently play this game and now my 8 year old daughter has an addiction to it as well. The wheel has seven categories: art, science, sports, entertainment, geography, and history. There is also a special category called “the crown”. You can play against your friends, or random players. When it’s your turn, you spin the wheel to land on a category, then you are asked a question from that category. The goal is to answer questions from all 6 categories before your opponent does. Each category is represented by a character. Your turn continues until you get an answer incorrect. If you land on the special crown, or get 3 answers correct in a row, you get to choose what category you want to answer or you can challenge your opponent for one of their characters.

Sample Question

 Sample categories and wheel

Choose your strongest category

    

         Trivia Crack uses the 6 C’s of motivation to get adults and children motivated to play the game.  One motivator is Choice. The game gives players several opportunities to make a choice. The player can choose if they want to play with a random opponent or a friend. The player can also choose to challenge their friend for a character. The player can choose which category they are most knowledgeable about and want to answer when they land on the crown space.  Challenge is another motivator.  The questions get harder as you answer them correctly. The questions are usually not too easy or difficult.  Another motivator is control, the player can choose who they want to play with. The game also allows a player to suggest their own questions for the game so the player is now involved in part of the decision making of the game.  Another motivating factor is collaboration.  The game allows for chat during the game, so you can chat with other players. My daughter also plays the game with me and her younger cousin. She asks me for help during the game with questions she doesn’t know and she is also teaching her younger cousin subjects when she is playing with her. Trivia Crack uses constructing meaning because some of the topics in the game are what she is learning in school. She especially likes the science and geography categories when it relates to a topic she is currently learning about. I can’t believe how many times she yells, “I’m learning about this in science!” and gets the answer correct.  Another motivator in the game is consequences.  The game has messages such as “good job” or “nice try” when you get an answer correct or incorrect. The game also shows how you rank among friends and your best categories. This gives the player a sense of achievement and the motivation to do better and beat their own and others’ scores.

 Players can suggest questions for the game

Players can see which categories they perform best in

           Players can see their own progress and ranking among others

 

I think all motivators from this game can be applied to the classroom. Some of the main motivators of this game are choice, control and consequences. Giving students a choice increases their motivation to learn. When students can choose tasks they are interested in, they spend more effort learning and understanding the material. Control allows students to be involved in the decision making and they will be responsible in their learning. Consequences allow students to have their achievements recognized so that they feel a sense of accomplishment.  I would use my own version of this game in my classroom. The game involves all of the 6 C’s and would be a great addition to the classroom for learning and educational fun.