This document summarizes an action research project that investigated using quiz games to improve students' understanding of science knowledge and control misbehavior in the classroom. Interviews found that both teachers and students felt quiz games were an engaging activity. Test scores improved from a mean of 8.36 to 8.90 after a quiz game, and misbehaviors decreased from 41 to 24 students. Thus, the research concluded that quiz games can effectively improve learning outcomes and classroom behavior when implemented properly. Future research could address weaknesses like modifying questions to different ability levels and conducting the study over multiple cycles.

1. USING QUIZ GAME TO IMPROVE PUPILS’
UNDERSTANDING OF SCIENCE
KNOWLEDGE
BONG JAK HIAN
Laporan projek ini dikemukakan sebagai memenuhi sebahagian daripada syarat
penganugerahan Ijazah Sarjana Muda Perguruan Dengan Kepujian
(Sains Pendidikan Rendah)
KAMPUS INSTITUT PENDIDIKAN GURU
OKTOBER 2010
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2. USING QUIZ GAME TO IMPROVE PUPILS’ UNDERSTANDING OF
SCIENCE KNOWLEDGE
Bong Jak Hian
S2 / T4 SN2
E-mail: jhbong_hata@yahoo.com
Institute Pendidikan Guru Kampus Pulau Pinang
Abstract
The purpose of this Action Research is to find out whether quiz game can
improve pupils’ understanding of Science knowledge and control pupils
from misbehaving. Findings from the interview indicated that pupils and
teachers recommended using quiz game as one of the classroom activities.
The mean value indicated that majority of the pupils achieved high marks
in the post-test compared to the pre-test, whereby the result increased from
8.36 to 8.90. Pupils behaved well during the game compared to a normal
Science lesson, out of 41 pupils only 24 of them misbehaved. Quiz game is
an effective classroom activity that can facilitate learning and control
pupils’ from misbehaving in the classroom.
The Context
From the past experience during practicum in some school, almost everyday there
will get a relief class from other teachers. Because it is so sudden, there is no time for
preparation. Sometimes there is a relief class for unfamiliar subjects like Bahasa Arab,
Art Education and Music. The teacher should not allow the pupils to just sit and do
nothing in a relief class. This not only wastes their time but also gave them the
opportunity to misbehave. Pupils will tend to make noise, walk around the classroom,
disturb others, ask for drinks, and go to the toilet. Teaching and learning in the
classroom could be maximized with proper lesson planning by the educators.
Meaningful classroom activities can stimulate pupils to think and help them to
practice their existing knowledge. A quiz game would be a good choice for the
teachers to fill the free period meaningfully since it is interesting and relaxing and at
the same time, enable the pupils to learn within a short period of time. Pupils should
realize their own responsibility as a learner. A great learner must be initiative and
proactive to learn whenever there is a chance. They must learn to appreciate time and
make good use of every second of time meaningfully and beneficially to learn and
improve themselves. They need to respect teacher and obey rules in school everyday.
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3. Research Focus
An interesting classroom activity surely will attract pupils’ attention throughout
the period and also helps pupils in learning. Quiz game is recommended by most of
the teachers and pupils in school, so as most researchers in the world. It bring benefits
for the both the pupils and the teacher. McCloud (2008) said that quiz game is good
for reviewing and reinforcing previously taught material. It can also raise the
understanding and it is good for warming up or ending lesson. It allows the students to
practice listening to natural, non-scripted English during the quiz game activity. Not
only this, quiz game is also believed can helps in controlling pupils from misbehaving.
According to Vernon (2005), during the game, the teacher should establish the rules
and consequences for good and bad behavior, apply them consistently, set a good
example, use peer pressure and points, and use attention grabbing cues. The teacher
should also create teams and deduct or reward behavior points to a team's score
during a game. Your class will respond naturally by using peer pressure to keep the
naughty children from misbehaving. Quiz game is a very useful strategy in making
pupils’ engage in learning and also make them well-behaved.
Action Plan
The objective of this action research is to find out whether the quiz game can
improve pupils’ understanding of Science knowledge and control pupils from
misbehaving. The research questions are: Can quiz game help to improve pupils’
understanding of Science knowledge? Can quiz game help to control pupils from
misbehaving during the learning process? The participants of the study will be a
number of 28 pupils consisting of 12 boys and 16 girls were involved in this action
research. They were all Year Three students from a primary school situated in Penang,
Malaysia. To solve the problem, researcher conducted a quiz game among the Year 3
pupils after the topic Magnet was taught.
Implementation of Action Plan
First of all, the school teachers and pupils were interviewed in order to obtain
their ideas and opinions on using quiz game as a teaching and learning activity inside
the classroom. A quiz game was then conducted with Year 3 pupils during the relief
class period in order to check its effectiveness towards improving pupils’
understanding of Science knowledge. At the beginning, Year 3 pupils were taught the
topic Magnet. The pupils sat for a pre-test that consisted of 10 objective questions in
order to check their prior understanding on the topic taught. After the pre-test, a quiz
game was conducted during the relief class, the pupils were guided to play the game.
After the quiz game, pupils sat for a post-test that consisted of 10 objective questions.
On the other hand, students’ misbehaviors were observed during the normal lesson
when pupils were taught the Science topic. The number of students that misbehaved
in every 10 minutes was recorded in an observation checklist. Similarly, during the
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4. quiz game, the teacher also observed students’ misbehaviors and recorded in the
observation checklist to see how many of them misbehaved in every 10 minutes.
Data Collection Methods
The researcher used three types of data collection methods, which are
interview the teachers and pupils conducting pre-test and post-test (Appendix A) for
the pupils and using a observation checklist (Appendix B). The school teachers and
pupils were interviewed in order to obtain their ideas and opinions about using quiz
game as a teaching and learning activity inside the classroom. A pre-test and post-test
were done by the pupils before and after the quiz game conducted, both consisted of
10 objective questions. The result will be analyzed to show the achievement of the
pupils and the effectiveness of the quiz game towards improving Science knowledge.
Observation checklist also used to record pupils’ misbehaviors during normal class
and during the quiz game. This was done to investigate the change in behaviors
among the pupils.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
The school teachers and pupils were interviewed in order to obtain their ideas and
opinions about using quiz game as a teaching and learning activity inside the
classroom. The interview had been transcripted and analyzed.
Teacher A said: “… dengan melakukan aktiviti ini murid akan mengelak daripada
membuang masa dan dapat mengelakkan diri daripada melakukan
perkara-perkara yang tidak berfaedah.” (Interview, 4/8/10).
The statement above showed that the teacher believe that the q uiz game allows pupils
to engage in learning. Pupils can avoid themselves from misbehaving and wasting
their time by doing meaningless job.
Teacher B said: “Keburukan pertandingan kuiz, yang pertama, bagi murid lemah
mereka kadang tidak berbuat dengan baik mereka akan berasa kecil hati.
Berbanding dengan murid yang pandai mereka akan berebut-rebut untuk
menjawab. Murid-murid yang lemah hanya akan melihat sahaja, berasa rendah
diri di kalangan mereka. Yang kedua ialah dari segi disiplin akan berlaku
bising…” (Interview, 4/8/10).
The teacher gave some disadvantages of conducting quiz game in classroom. Teacher
said weak pupils may feel low confident if they cannot answer the quiz question well.
Besides, pupils also tend to make noise during the game.
Pupils B respond: “Murid bermain dalam kelas. Buat bising.” (Interview, 4/8/10).
Most pupils also said that the classroom can become noisy easily when playing the
game. Therefore, teacher should conduct the quiz game properly so that pupils can
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5. learn effectively and well-behaved during the period.
Table 1.0 Mean and standard deviation for pre-test and post-test result
Mean Standard Deviation
Pre-test 8.36 1.32
Post-test 8.89 1.21
From table 1.0 above, the result of post-test showed a clear increase compared to
the result of the post-test. There were more pupils obtained full marks (10 marks) in
the post-test. The number of pupils increased from 6 pupils to 11 pupils. The mean
value obtained for pre-test is 8.36 while the mean value for post-test is 8.89. The
mean value of the pre-test was higher than the post-test. This indicates pupils
achieved high marks in the post-test compared to the pre-test.
Table 2.1 Pupils behavior during a normal lesson.
Observation during normal lesson
Time Interval Types of misbehavior performed by pupils Sum
Legend
T P D M W A
2.20 – 2.30 3 2 1 2 1 0 9
2.30 – 2.40 2 2 0 2 0 0 6
2.40 – 2.50 3 0 0 1 0 0 4
2.50 – 3.00 2 0 1 0 0 2 5
3.00 – 3.10 3 3 0 0 2 1 9
3.10 – 3.20 5 2 0 1 0 0 8
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Total 41
Legend: T – talking with friends M – make noise
P – Playing around W – walk around
D – distract by other stuff A – ask for drink and toilet

6. Table 2.2 Pupils behavior during the quiz game.
Observation during the quiz game
Time Interval Types of misbehavior performed by pupils Sum
Legend
T P D M W A
2.20 – 2.30 3 2 1 1 0 0 7
2.30 – 2.40 2 1 0 2 0 0 5
2.40 – 2.50 3 1 1 2 0 0 7
2.50 – 3.00 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
3.00 – 3.10 2 0 0 0 0 0 2
3.10 – 3.20 1 0 0 1 0 0 2
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Total 24
Legend: T – talking with friends M – make noise
P – Playing around W – walk around
D – distract by other stuff A – ask for drink and toilet
Pupils’ behaviors have improved during the quiz game comparing to a normal
lesson. The number of pupils that misbehave before and after the quiz game had
decreased from 41 pupils to 24 pupils.
Reflection and implications
Quiz game is a good tool to use as one of the classroom activities since it not only
facilitates learning, but also make more pupils in learning Science and grabs their
attention throughout the lesson. During the interviewed session, most teacher claimed
that quiz game motivate pupils in learning and pupils also claimed that they like to
have quiz game as classroom activity because it is fun. After the quiz game
implemented among the pupils, positive findings were obtained. Majority of the
pupils achieved higher marks in the post-test with a mean value of 8.89 if compared to
the result in pre-test, which a mean value of 8.36. There was also an improvement of
pupils’ misbehaviors during the quiz game compared to a normal lesson. The number
of pupils that misbehave before and after the quiz game had decreased from 41 pupils
to 24 pupils. Quiz game can be effectively benefits the pupils if it is conducted
properly by the teacher. Quiz game take a host of forms and can be applied to nearly
any subject. There are benefits in incorporating games into the classroom. By stepping
away from the traditional lecture and teaching methods of past, educators can allow
their students to benefit from high-interest, interactive games. (Schreiner, 2010).

7. The next step
Quiz game was proved to be one good example of classroom activity. But still,
teachers should plan the activity carefully and then conduct the game in the classroom
properly in order to make sure the game is effective and achieved its objectives. Some
weaknesses on the action plan were found which can be improve to make this
research more reliable and make the quiz game more convenient to be carry out in the
classroom. In a classroom, there may assist mix ability of pupils. There were excellent
pupils and weak pupils in the class. To reduce this problem, the educator should try to
modify the quiz question so that they are consisted of easy, moderate and hard
questions to suit the mix abilities of the pupils. Firstly, for this research, after one
topic had finished taught by the teacher, a pre-test should be given to the pupils
immediately. Then, the quiz game should be carrying out as soon as possible, not
more than a week. A post-test should be given immediately after the quiz game. In
other words, the whole process should go continuously and only a few days break are
allowed before the date of conducting the quiz game. Secondly, this research only
done in one cycle. Therefore, the researcher recommends that it will be much better if
the action plan can be repeated for 2 to 3 cycles to make the final conclusion more
reliable.
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