To learn by playing

Do board games belong to school education?

Play knowledge games with Timixi timelines in the classroom. The learning process is still in progress here but, fortunately, students don't sense it at all. Children can have a good time and don't have to rewrite texts to their exercise books, or stare at a mobile phone or computer display.

In Timixi, you can find a lot of sample timelines as well as a free tool to create your own. Those who have already tried teaching or learning with timelines, know about knowledge quizzes, automatically compiled from timeline data.

And how are board games connected to the timeline?

An innovation in the system is a feature to simply create playing cards for a board game. They are based on a set of events on given timeline. The game can take various forms - in the Downloads section, some game rules are ready for inspiration, but you will certainly have your own ideas.

The introduction to the game is the making of playing cards. Select a suitable timeline from the menu or prepare a timeline with your own set of events. To make the social game interesting, choose timelines with plenty of recorded moments. For a Timixi board game, there should be tens of events on the source timeline. - On the selected timeline page, just use the Board Game button to generate the playing cards.

Then, you can distribute printed source sheets among pupils in the classroom and instruct them how to make the cards out of them. There are two types of board games: with paired cards (double-sided - two pieces of each card are glued together, date on one side, event name on the other) or solo cards (one-sided - date and title are separately on different cards; you can leave the back side blank or use the supplied pattern).

our tip   Using board games is yet another way, how students can consolidate their knowledge - this time through gamification.

Composing a timeline  is one version of the game - we need paired cards. During the game, players try to place their cards in a timeline chronologically. The game can be arranged around a family table or at school desk. You can play it outside as well - players with cards represent individual events and together make a "human timeline". No other equipment than playing cards is needed (download the timixiLINE game rules).

Pick a pair  is another variant of the game with timeline. Solo cards are used for playing similar way to the memory game you may know as Pairz or Concentration game. Thus, each event is represented on one card by a date, on another by a name. During the game, players reveal cards and look for paired cards with the date and name corresponding to the same event. The game will practice not only an awareness of the events of the topic, but also visual memory (download the TIMIXESO game rules).

If you choose your theme well (and put together enough events), the board game will be more personal and interesting. The topic may come from your classroom - interesting events during the school year: sightseeing tours, sporting events, musical performances, excursions, debates with interesting people. Children can then play “their” board game with friends on a school trip, scout bivouac, or sports camp.

Jan Brich

@TimixiSystem

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