Heads Up Physical Geology Edition

Introductory physical geology course, during lab or lecture

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Students playing Heads Up in Physical Geology

Provenance: Lisa Gilbert, Cabrillo College
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Students need some prior practice with rock and mineral identification.

We play Heads Up about halfway through our 16 week semester. The game is effective during lab, but could work just as well during lecture.

At this point in the semester, we have spent two weeks each on Minerals, Igneous Rocks, Sedimentary Rocks, and Metamorphic Rocks and have also had some other experiences using play to practice. Students spend the first week identifying a set of 12-15 samples, organizing their observations into a table, and quizzing each other with flash cards. During the second week with a set of 12-15 samples, students select a single rock and move around the lab room to organize themselves into various groups they create (e.g., all the felsic rocks, ferromagnesian silicate minerals, everything that reacts with acid). We also play Rock Bingo and through that, students get used to hearing/reading a description of a rock and locating the sample.

The goal of this activity is for students to strengthen and organize their knowledge of rocks and minerals.

Playing Heads-Up is different than looking at samples and describing and naming them. When a student sees only the name of a mineral or rock on their classmate's forehead and a Yes/No question about it, that student must apply their knowledge. Further, the student with the post-it on their head must create questions that will help them guess the rock or mineral without seeing it in the minimum number of steps, and therefore must consider what are the essential characteristics.

Non-verbal collaboration

Set-up:

Pre-write the names of the rocks or minerals you want to review on a set of sticky notes. I make enough duplicates so that each student can play 3 rounds of Heads-Up. That is, if I have 30 rock names and 30 students, I'll write out the name of each rock on 3 sticky notes.

Make enough handouts for each student to have one.

Playing:

1. Each student wears a sticky note on their forehead. The note has the name of a rock or mineral and the wearer does not know what it says. They close their eyes and a TA or instructor hands them the note to put on their forehead.
2. Each student writes a yes/no question, attempting to figure out the identity of the rock or mineral on their forehead. When ready, the student shows it to a second student. The second student reads the sticky note and circles yes or no based on their knowledge of what is on the sticky note. 
3. The student considers the new information gained by this answer and then writes a second yes/no question. Students can continue as a pair in a fixed-seating auditorium, or circulate around a room until they have accumulated enough answers to lead them to only one possible answer. 
4. When they have an answer ready, a student will write their answer on the handout and any classmate can offer confirmation or the student can seek out the instructor/TA for a new sticky.

Heads Up Instructions Slide (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 32kB Oct27 24) 
Student Handout for Heads-Up Physical Geology Edition (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 8kB Oct27 24) 
Student Handout for Heads-Up Physical Geology Edition (PDF) (Acrobat (PDF) 50kB Oct27 24) 

The first time I play this with just Metamorphic Rocks, of which we have 15 in our lab. Students quickly learn to first ask, "Am I foliated?" After that it will take them another 1-3 questions to narrow down the rock type. The first time playing, one round takes 10 minutes including the introduction. Within 20 minutes, most students have completed three rounds. By completing three rounds, students will typically encounter most of the rocks.

We play silently for several reasons. 1. My room can get very loud, which can create some accessibility issues. 2. When students need to write down the questions, they (and the instructor) have a record of their thought process. 3. Writing also slows things down and allows students to go at their own pace, only seeking out another student when they are ready.

Students can play closed-notes or open-notes. The game even works if each student decides which mode is better for them.

The game gets more challenging later in the semester, when "anything goes" and their sticky note can have any of the ~75 minerals and rocks we have been learning. Before getting to that stage, we take a field trip around campus and practice approaching unknown rocks and asking "what clues can you find that this rock is igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic?"

Students who a) write lists of questions that logically lead them to the identification of the rocks or minerals on their sticky notes and b) correctly answer the yes/no questions of their peers have met the goal of this activity.

As noted above, the instructor (or each student) can decide to play in closed-notes or open-notes mode.

This activity supports the course learning outcome that students will be able to analyze and identify unknown minerals and rocks, which is further assessed during lab quizzes.