Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Part A: What makes a good Trivia Quiz?

30 minutes

Part B: Create the Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz (plus additional homework time)

40 minutes

Part C: Play the Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz

10 minutes

Reflection (may be completed as homework)

Part A: What Makes a Good Trivia Quiz?

Step 1

Organise the students into pairs and ensure each pair has a laptop, iPad or tablet with access to the internet.

Step 2

As a warm-up activity, ask students to complete the following online recycling quiz:

Energy and Recycling Quiz

The quiz has 10 questions, so invite one student from each pair to write their score (out of 10) on the class whiteboard (or on a large piece of butcher's paper) at the front of the room.

Step 3

Go through the answers to the online recycling quiz game with students. The answers are available online via the links above. After going through the answers, commence a class discussion and ask:

How did students go?
What was the highest score? What was the lowest score? You could also consider asking: What was the most common score? What was the average score?
Which question(s) did most students get right? Which question(s) did most students get wrong?
What does this reveal about students’ current knowledge and understanding of recycling issues?
What are the current gaps in their knowledge about recycling? What would they like to learn more about?

In the second part of the discussion, invite students to share their ideas about the characteristics of a good “trivia quiz” question. Some of their answers could include:

The questions and possible answers are clear, easy to read and simple to understand.
The questions are interesting and entertaining.
The questions are original and inventive.
The questions cover a broad range of topics.
Every question has four possible alternatives.
All four alternatives are of roughly equal length.
All four alternatives seem plausible.
The alternative answers avoid statements such as: ‘all of the above’ or ‘none of the above’.
There is only ONE correct answer. (This sounds obvious, but good trivia quiz questions NEVER have ambiguous answers. All the other plausible answers are definitively ruled out in the wording of the question).
In most trivia quizzes, the questions at the beginning of the game are easier, and then get progressively harder throughout the game. This way, players feel good about themselves because they have gotten a few correct answers early, and so they become more invested in playing the game.

Part B - Create the Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz

Step 1

Explain to students that they are now going to create their own Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz. Each pair of students will write a small number of questions that will be contribute to a whole-class trivia quiz. This activity has been designed so that students will be able to play the full quiz in a subsequent lesson.

Step 2

Inform the class that each pair of students will be invited to contribute at least five questions to the quiz. Depending on the number of students in the class, you could allocate one or more of the following topics to each pair of students to ensure a variety of issues are covered. Allocation could be based on student preferences or be random (eg: drawn out of a hat).

mobile phones
printer cartridges
office equipment (computers, laptops, printers, scanners)
paper and cardboard
aluminium and steel
milk and juice cartons
water bottles
plastic bags
glass
batteries
mattresses and general household furniture such as tables, couches, chairs
whitegoods (fridges, washing machines, dryers and dishwashers)
waste-free lunches
clothing and footwear

Invite students to undertake research on their allocated topic. Students should spend no more than 10-15 minutes undertaking their research before they start jotting down ideas for their questions.

Encourage students to start their research with Cool.org resources for National Recycling Week.

If students are struggling to find other relevant sources information, you could also direct them to the following websites.

Remind students to "keep it REAL" when surfing the net for information.

Step 3

Ask students to start drafting their Trivia Quiz questions. The questions that students create could revolve around:

general knowledge about recycling
calculations
classifying different materials
impacts of recycling / waste reduction
benefits of recycling / waste reduction
placing recyclable items in a specific order (based on the correct sequence / size / importance)

Students are encouraged to add audio-visual elements to their questions, such as playing audio clips, displaying images and playing videos in order to add further interest and variety to the game. These elements should be created in PowerPoint which will enable quick and easy playback during the Trivia Quiz.

Students may also need reminding about the characteristics of a good trivia quiz question (see Part A above), as well as the importance of careful editing and proof-reading of both their questions and answers.

Student should submit their questions in an electronic format (in the body of an email if text only, or as an attachment to an email if using PowerPoint) to their teacher.

The teacher will then review the entire set of questions that have been submitted and select the best ones to use for the Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz.

The teacher (or a select group of students) should organise the questions into a series of “rounds”. It is suggested that three (3) rounds are created, with 10 questions in each round, although this may depend on the quality and quantity of questions students create. Some questions that students create may need to be omitted.

Part C - Play the Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz

Step 1

Organise the students into small teams with 3-5 students in each team. Answering the Trivia Quiz in teams is encouraged in order to promote cooperation among students and prevent the stress of individual embarrassment if students are unsure of the correct answers.

Encourage each team of students to create a fun or silly team name, based on a recycling theme (Eg: The Waste Warriors, The Trash Talkers, The Great Garbologists, The Recycle Rescuers, The Bin Bandits - the funnier and crazier the name, the better!)

If students have created questions with audio-visual stimulus material, then equipment such as a laptop, projector or SMARTboard will also need to be set up.

Step 2

Explain the rules of the Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz. Suggested rules are provided below, but you are encouraged to adapt the rules depending on the nature of your class.

There should be 3-5 students in each team.
Each team should create a team name.
There will be 3 rounds.
There will be 10 questions in each round.
A team receives 1 point for each correct answer to a question.
No points are subtracted for wrong answers
Each team must respond to the questions in each round on ONE answer sheet (preferably a piece of recycled paper!)
The team name should be placed at the top of the page, the numbers 1 – 10 listed down the left hand side and the answers to each question (A, B, C or D) written in black or blue pen.
Answers will be marked at the end of the round. Each team's answer sheet will be re-distributed to another group in the classroom for marking.
As the teacher goes through the answers, the team should mark the answers they have in front of them in red pen. The score for each round (out of 10) should be written at the bottom of the answer sheet and returned to the original team.
The teacher will ask each team to read out their score (out of 10) and will place the cumulative scores on the whiteboard.
After three rounds, a team will be declared the Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz Champions!
In case of a tie, a “What am I?” tie-breaker question will be asked.

Step 3

In order to create some mischievous fun, you may wish to add the following 'surprise' question at the end of the quiz, making it worth 5 points (which is especially fun if teams are neck and neck). Alternatively, it could be used as a Tie-Breaker question, if required. Of course, you are also encouraged to create alternative questions of your own, if you wish.

The first team to call out the correct answer wins. If a team answers incorrectly, they can no longer attempt to answer the question.

What am I?

I was first discovered in 1808
I was extracted for the first time in 1825 in Denmark
I used to be more highly prized than gold
I am the second-most abundant metallic element in Earth's crust
I can be used to make planes, cars and food containers
I am light
I am extracted from bauxite
I can be recycled an infinite number of times

I am aluminium.

Reflection

After playing the game, invite students to complete the Reflection activity in the Student Worksheet. This will help consolidate their understanding and encourage students to dig deeper into areas they would like to learn more about.

Differentiated Learning

Extension: Students requiring extension could be involved in assisting the teacher to select questions for the Trivia Quiz. This may include checking that a variety of questions are chosen (both in terms of topic and style), checking grammar and spelling, and organising the questions into separate rounds. Individual students may also be invited to perform the role of QuizMaster or ScoreKeeper for the class.

Provisional Learning Support: Students needing support could be allocated to groups which include students with varying abilities and be guided to research and write simpler questions.

Take It Further

Having experienced the process of writing and organising a Trivia Quiz for their own class, students could create a Trivia Quiz on a similar theme for:

another class or group of students in the same year at their school
a class of younger students from a neighbouring primary school
a student Green Team fund-raising event
a whole school community Trivia Night, including parents and staff teams.

Students may need reminding that when writing a Trivia Quiz for a different audience, a specific style, tone of voice, and level of complexity may be required, depending on the age, prior knowledge and level of formality expected of their audience.

National Recycling Week - Recycle Rescue Trivia Quiz

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