Other Software to Use With CPS?

by Patti

I would love if CPS would have a bigger variety of review games. Quiz show is great, but limiting. I would love the option of being able to use the clickers as buzz in. Is there any other programs that the clickers work with. I would also love to hear ideas from other teachers how they use the remotes in their classroom.

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Expanding Your Game Repertoire...

Patti,

I think this is a question that is of interest to a lot of teachers, so thanks for bringing it up!

Great for reviews is the built-in Challenge Board game, which allows you to insert your questions into different point values within your defined categories, just like Jeopardy. This is a great game when you are reviewing for a test.

Also built into CPS are Top Score and There It Is. Top Score can be used during your lecture or anytime you are posing CPS questions. It just keeps a running score, awarding an extra 5 points to the fastest correct answer on each question.

There It Is is a randomized matching game, great for an activity where parts of a picture are matched to the labels, i.e. matching states with the correct name. The computer actually tells the student which question to answer, so each student is answering a different question at the same time. This can be utilized as a student-managed assessment or a teacher-led review. Numerous free There It Is games are available by clicking on the Search menu from the main toolbar of CPS by dragging and dropping the individual lessons from the search window to your own CPS lesson tree.

Mindpoint Quiz Show is a great supplement to CPS; it's kind of like Jeopardy on steroids. Quiz Show give you three ways to play: a single player game against a computer opponent or racing the clock, a multiplayer game with one or two other students or a team competition with the entire class.

Although CPS does not have a giant repertoire of games built into the system, don’t forget that you can float CPS over any kind of software. This allows you to use PPT templates for your own games like Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

You can find some tremendous game templates, including Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy, Who Wants to Be A Millionaire, Twenty Questions, Guess the Covered Word, Hillsborough Squares, Holiday Squares, Weakest Link, and Concentration here.

Granted, you will have to modify these to fit your classroom tastes and figure out how to best incorporate them with remotes. However, this can provide you with a wide variety of game options. You can also Google PPT game templates and receive a lot of templates and homemade PPT games that might be just what you are looking for to incorporate with CPS.

We also have an example of the game 1 vs. 100 on our site. There is also another link to free PowerPoint presentations (including game templates) on our Main Activities page under the heading Miscellaneous Resources.

As for how other teachers are using CPS remotes in their classrooms, please check out our Teaching with Clickers page. It is still a work in progress, but we will make sure we post new information to our What’s New page when something is added.

Good luck on your adventure with CPS games!


Dustin at Engaging Technologies