Side-Choosing Games for Peer Teaching in Class

The general theme is to use game-theoretic ideas to improve peer evaluation and peer teaching. We strive for assignment based dialogs between the students to check whether they understand a given topic. We find that side-choosing games play an important role in this context.

Techniques to create student interaction during a class.

Students choose side

Claim: C. Ask students to choose side. Give them x minutes, where x depends on the complexity of C. E.g., x = 1.

Turn to your neighbor, tell them your side. If the sides are different, play one game. If the sides are the same, play two games where one player is forced. Have a discussion about the winning strategy behind your game play.

Motivated by a physics professor at Harvard: Eric Mazur. Brought to my attention by Dr. Michael Sweet, Center for Advanced Teaching & Learning through Research, Northeastern.

Students defend true claim

Claim C is known to be true. Student has to defend claim against neighbor (devil's advocate). Have a discussion about the winning strategy behind your game play.