US History Quiz
Trivia appeals to history buffs but won't convert others
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US History Quiz
Pros: It's a targeted trivia game that could be fun for history lovers.
Cons: Without elaboration on the correct answer or the distractors, lasting learning isn't really happening here.
Bottom Line: Basic, straightforward trivia game that may engage some but isn’t heavily focused on learning.
US History Quiz is appropriately titled: It's an app providing a multiple-choice quiz that’s focused on American history. Click the icon, and the menu board options are self-explanatory, although there's an instruction page for anyone who needs it. Start the game, select the number of questions you want in any one game, and begin. All questions are multiple-choice with four answer choices. There's a timer and a pause button. If you time out, the question is scored as incorrect and the quiz moves on to the next question. A correct answer is greeted with "correct," and an incorrect one displays the correct answer but no further explanation. A running score is kept at the top of the screen. Scores are automatically saved to the device, and you can opt to compare your scores on the leaderboard.
Some of the answer choices are poised to make you think a bit about the question to come up with a plausible answer. You may not know what year a fire killed three Apollo astronauts, but you can narrow down the options by eliminating 1947 and 1957, assuming you know that the U.S. space program didn't start until after 1957. Feedback for players doesn’t give an explanation about the question topic or more information about the answer choices, whether the question was answered correctly or not.
People who like trivia games will enjoy this app. Those who struggle with trivia-style learning -- or just find answering these kinds of questions uninteresting -- may not like it. Some questions are more trivial (no pun intended) than others, and some are less related to history –- for example, identifying an automobile associated with a particular slogan. Feedback for players doesn’t give an explanation about the question topic or more information about the answer choices, whether the question was answered correctly or not. But the app does keep score on the device and on global leaderboards, so students can see how their scores compare to others'.
There's not much to it, but for a simple trivia exercise, US History Quiz delivers most of what it promises. A little more informative feedback could make it really worthwhile, and it would be nice if there were an option to remove the ever-present ads.
Learning Rating
Community Rating
Good trivia, not good for learning
While this game serves a basic trivia game's purpose of fun and engaging, that is all it is. This app can be used as an activity for class but it does not encourage high order thinking. It just encourages students to race to answer a question for the sole purpose of being first. I've always said History is not a subject in which you just memorize different dates and names, you have to be able to connect ideas and give human experiences to those events. This game does the opposite. If I'm rating this app based on Bloom's Taxonomy, I wouldn't know where this app fits in as you need prior knowledge to play.
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