The Top 5 Ways to Increase Assessment Scores Using Game Shows.

Game shows are a fun addition to a training session. There’s no doubt that they increase trainee engagement, excitement and the energy level in any session. But let’s get down to brass tacks here—having fun for fun’s sake isn’t enough. Game shows have been proven to increase trainees’ assessment scores and content retention on job-critical evaluations. Here are some tips to ensure that you get real results from your game show.

1. Use Game Shows to Review Information.
To review your content, play a game show at the end of each content module. Let trainees know beforehand that they’ll be playing a game show, and highlight which pieces of information might show up in that game show later. Before an exam, create a game show with questions from all different content areas to both energize your trainees, and refresh their memories. Word the questions in your game show in the way they will be asked on a evaluation to prepare trainees for the exam format. Try Categories for quick fact-based reviews.

2. Add Additional Information and Multimedia.
Add multimedia to your game show to enhance and add information. Giving trainees a picture, sound or video clip to associate with a piece of information will help them recall facts when it comes to evaluation time. Trainees’ attention is at its peak directly after a question has been answered—they’re curious about the topic and ready to hear more. Make sure to use this time to add additional information, expand on your material, clarify a point, or clear up any misconceptions or misunderstandings.

3. Make a Game Show “Open Book”.
Use the game show to give your trainees a starting point for their own practice or home studying. Familiarize trainees with their manuals, books, catalogs and other training materials by allowing them to use them during the game show. This type of game show is less about knowing facts, and more about finding answers quickly and reinforcing the places in training materials where trainees should look to review content.

4. Focus on the Material.
Quick fact-based reviews are great right before an evaluation when trainees have done most of their own review. However, to reinforce and uncover knowledge gaps you’ll want to play a slower-paced game that allows trainees to discuss and focus on material for an extended period of time. Short-answer and role-play questions in a Tic-Tac-Toe or Knowledge Bowl allow you to foster discussions and brainstorming around a topic. Trainees will also gather an understanding of what they don’t know, or need to focus on in their own time.

5. Play in Teams.
Use the power of peer learning to help trainees gather information that they’re missing and share their own knowledge with their peers. Playing in teams instead of as individual contestants allows trainees to discuss answers and focus on content without feeling singled out. A game show is a great complement to work review groups as well—a few trainees can play a game show on their own instead of in a large group.

Bonus Tip: Ease text anxiety. Play a quick-fire review game immediately before taking an examination. This shows trainees how much of the content the actually DO know—relieving some fears--and brings the information to the front of their thinking. This is particularly beneficial in job-critical tests where high stakes can lead to high anxiety.

Additional Resources:
We have a great network of trainers that advise and give feedback on using game shows in their training. Here is an independent study sent in by Candace Armstrong—a Trainer and user of LearningWare’s Gameshow Pro:

Candace took several groups of trainees and divided them into two categories: Trainees who would review for a critical exam with Gameshow Pro, and those who would review without Gameshow Pro. Candace conducted a review for both groups. She used the same questions, worded in the same way—the variable factor was putting the questions into a Gameshow Pro game, or reading them orally.

The results? 63% more people passed the exam reviewing with Gameshow Pro, the passing scores in this group was also higher-as were the overall scores.
"Playing the game really makes a difference," says Candace, "I have had many students tell me after the exam that they would never have passed without playing the review game. They could even remember who answered what question and whether or not they answered it correctly."