gamify instruction

Submitted by Lauren deLaubell on January 17th, 2025
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Short Description: 

The most powerful wizards have gathered to battle one another.  Only one will win.  Wizards must use reliable sources to research incantations for the battle, or their spells will fizzle.  Truly wise wizards must learn to tell the difference. 

Research Wizards is an information literacy card game designed to teach students ages 12+ about source evaluation.  Research Wizards corresponds to the Frame Authority Is Constructed and Contextual, from the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education.  Players will discuss and challenge the relative value of various sources, each representing a different suit in the game.  The game includes four major actions/phases:  Parley, when players discuss and decide for themselves the relative value of each suit; Battle, which includes competition, player actions, and Challenges; Vengeance, for eliminated players to impact and speed up the remainder of the game; and Victory.

The Research Wizards website contains free game files, player directions, and printing tips for librarians and teachers who wish to use the game in their classrooms.  The website includes an editable, Microsoft Publisher version of the game.  Noncommercial use of the game is free for educational purposes with attribution to the author.  Librarians and teachers are encouraged to adapt the game as needed for their subject areas, student needs, and as the sources in the game evolve over time.  Adaptations must be shared under the same terms.

Players:  3-5 per deck

Play Time:  20-30 minutes, plus discussion

Research Wizards by Lauren deLaubell is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0  To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Player directionsdisplayed 1595 times1.02 MB
Printing tipsdisplayed 1511 times26.71 KB
Card deckdisplayed 1558 times2.51 MB
Learning Outcomes: 
    • Wizards will define a variety of traditional and emerging information formats.
    • Wizards will compare a variety of information formats and discuss their relative reliability.
    • Wizards will explore the variation in quality found within specific categories of information (e.g., the wildcard of using resources located by or generated with artificial intelligence).

Individual or Group:

Potential Pitfalls and Teaching Tips: 

It is recommended to review directions out loud with students, with pauses for students to sort their decks and conduct the Parley phase of play.  To contextualize and reinforce learning, it is recommended to conclude the game with discussion questions; sample questions are provided at the bottom of the player directions file but may be adjusted as needed.

Suggested Citation: 
deLaubell, Lauren. "Research Wizards." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2025. https://projectcora.org/assignment/research-wizards.
Submitted by Zoeanna Mayhook on April 21st, 2020
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Short Description: 

Quiz your students on library terminology and concepts using this Library Jeopardy! template. This activity can be done for in-person library instruction sessions, or via Zoom/live virtual instruction sessions.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Library Jeopardy.pptxdisplayed 1445 times1.78 MB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to review library terminology and quiz their knowledge.

 

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

Jeopardy board options are hyperlinked to different question slides. Participants can break up into teams, or be quizzed invidually. Instructors can use buzzers, or students can raise their hand or type their responses into a chat box (during virtual sessions).

Suggested Citation: 
Mayhook, Zoeanna. "Library Jeopardy! Template ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2020. https://projectcora.org/assignment/library-jeopardy-template.
Submitted by Peter Catlin on July 10th, 2019
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Short Description: 

A classroom activity and lesson plan for first-year students. Your students will learn to differentiate between different categories of items -- such as Popular/Scholarly, or Primary/Secondary/Tertiary -- by playing this fun and easy game.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
The Sorting Machine - lesson plan.pdfdisplayed 1437 times567.85 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will:
• Correctly categorize library items.
• Describe the different role that each category plays in the research process.
• Discuss how particular items could be used in the research process, in the context of each item’s category.

Individual or Group:

Suggested Citation: 
Catlin, Peter. "The Sorting Machine." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/sorting-machine.
Submitted by Zoeanna Mayhook on June 16th, 2019
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Short Description: 

Research Resources the card game is an information literacy activity adapted from Apples to Apples game rules. Players write down their research topics, and their teammates suggest resources based on gold resource cards they have been dealt. Attached are the game instructions, cards, and discussion questions.

Attachments: 
AttachmentSize
Research Resources - Instructions.docxdisplayed 943 times104.52 KB
Research Resources - Gold Template Cards Sample Pack.docxdisplayed 852 times447.24 KB
Research Resources - Gold Template Cards Blank.docxdisplayed 712 times260.65 KB
Research Resources - Purple Template Cards Blank.docxdisplayed 655 times268.77 KB
Research Resources - Discussion Questions.docxdisplayed 799 times31.49 KB
Learning Outcomes: 

Students will be able to develop the scope of their research topic, and match information needs to appropriate resources

Discipline: 
Multidisciplinary

Information Literacy concepts:

Individual or Group:

Course Context (e.g. how it was implemented or integrated): 

Game was developed for a multidisciplinary writing class. Game could be adapted to focus on specific subjects or disciplines.

Collaborators: 
Suggested Citation: 
Mayhook, Zoeanna. "Research Resources: The Card Game ." CORA (Community of Online Research Assignments), 2019. https://projectcora.org/assignment/research-resources-card-game.