Road to the Civil War Quiz Show

Let’s face it – review and study prep for a Road to the Civil War unit test is not exactly a student’s idea of fun. As a teacher, however, you can take away most of the boredom and drudgery by making a game out of it.

This 96 slide Quiz Show PowerPoint helps students review Road to the Civil War unit material by playing a fun and competitive game. Unlike the traditional quiz show game (which I cannot name due to copyright and trademark concerns!), this game’s format involves all students, working together in teams of 4-5 students each, answering all the questions as they compete against the other teams. Every student team answers every question, and all teams get points for correct answers, which keeps all students engaged until the final quiz show question – meaning that they’re all learning. Be prepared for noise!

The game is simple to set up (requiring only white boards and dry-erase markers for students), instruct and play, and students immediately become engaged in competing to be the team with the most correct answers. Topics covered include the social, economic and political differences between the North and South and how those differences translated into the struggle over slavery, culminating in the shelling of Fort Sumter and the start of the Civil War.

Questions cover: the different economic systems in the North and South; the effects of the Industrial Revolution on the North and “King Cotton” on the South; the abolition movement; the Missouri Compromise; the Compromise of 1850; the Kansas/Nebraska Act and Bleeding Kansas; the Dred Scott case; John Brown; the election of 1860; and the birth of the Confederacy. You can choose which slides to use depending on what material you covered in your particular unit.

Materials include:

*instructions (both as a word document and a PDF)

*96 slide PowerPoint (47 question slides and 47 answer slides, including 2 “final quiz show” questions and 1 tie-breaker question, with answers)

All materials are provided in one zip file.

You will need to provide a small white board and dry-erase marker for each group playing the game. I’ve played this game with my 8th grade class for years, and it never fails to be a big hit.

Created by Cliff Baker - Ye Olde History Emporium