Spoons: From Cards to Chemistry
Lela Ruck, James E. Becvar
Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at El Paso
Abstract
Playing Spoons
The Role of the Peer Leader
 During the game, the peer leader should ensure that teams are
working cooperatively. One student should not contribute more than
the other students in any one team.
As part of the Plus Two Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) program
at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP), peer leaders are
encouraged to plan workshops to benefit all types of students with
a variety of different learning styles. Playing a game is one way to
get all the students in a workshop involved in the lesson. Spoons is
a game that encourages students to work together and learn from
one another. Students must also work quickly and efficiently to earn
as many points as possible. Learning how to manage helps
students complete timed exams and quizzes in lecture. Originally
adapted from a card game, spoons can also be used to help
students learn multiple general chemistry concepts. Using games in
the workshop is a unique aspect of the PLTL program at UTEP and
has helped increase the pass rate in first semester general
chemistry by about 20%.
 The peer leader should not explain any problem or topic unless
the whole workshop is having difficulty. This ensures that students
depend on one another to learn the material.
 Students are usually not allowed to use their chemistry books or
their notes to help solve the problem. Without the help of the peer
leader or the book, students must work together to find a successful
approach to the problem.
 A great way to vary the game is to have the students come up
with the problem to be worked. They can all try to work a previous
homework or quiz problem that they had trouble with.
How To Play
 Divide the students in a workshop into three or more teams with
no more than 4 students per team.
Students work in teams at the board to solve the problem.
Why Games are Important
As students explain their work other teams listen and ask questions.
 Games are a fun and easy way to get students involved in the
workshop.
 If there are three teams, there need to be two spoons; if there
are four teams, then three spoons.
 The more involved students are in the workshop, the more likely
it is that they will learn the required material.
 Markers can be substituted if spoons are unavailable.
 The spoons should be placed in the center of the room where
someone from each team can easily reach them.
 To see if playing spoons really helped students learn the
material, 30 students were given a three question quiz before and
after playing the game. The quizzes were later graded and
compared.
 All teams are given the same problem to solve.
 The first team that solves the problem and is confident that their
answer is correct should grab the first spoon.
 The results were compiled into a chart, shown below.
Students Quiz Scores Before (Orange) and After
(Blue) Playing Spoons
 The other teams can compete for the remaining spoon(s) when
they are confident that they have solved the problem correctly.
20
18
 The team that is unable to grab a spoon receives zero points for
that round.
 The team that grabbed the spoon first must explain their answer
to the other teams once each team has completed the problem.
 The other teams can ask questions and can decide whether the
first team answered the question correctly.
Students work as a team to explain the problem to other teams.
Once a team has solved the problem they can grab a marker.
14
12
10
8
6
4
 If the workshop members believe the first team has the right
answer, that first team will receive the maximum number of points
for the round.
2
0
0
 If the workshop members believe that the first team solved the
problem incorrectly, the team that can explain it correctly will
receive the maximum number of points for the round and the team
that solved it incorrectly will not receive any points for that round.
1
2
Number of Questions Answered Correctly
3
 The orange bars indicate the quiz grades before playing spoons
while the blue bars indicate the quiz grades after playing the game.
 Although we were only able to quiz a total of 30 students, there is
a clear trend in the data. After playing spoons, none of the students
received a zero for the quiz compared to the seven students who
received a zero before playing spoons.
 The other teams that did not solve the problem but still grabbed
a spoon will receive minimum points.
 The team that received the maximum number of points for
solving the problem correctly is not allowed to obtain a spoon in the
next round to ensure that one team does not dominate the game.
 Also, the number of students able to answer all the questions
correctly dramatically increased after the game was played.
 Although more data should be obtained in the future, the
preliminary data does suggest that playing games during workshop
can help facilitate the understanding of complex chemistry topics.
 The team that is unable to compete for the spoon in the second
round must still work on the problem because they can still gain
points if the team that explains the problem is incorrect.
 Once the second round is complete, the team that was unable to
compete can once again compete for a spoon in the following
round.
Number of Students
16
Students in other teams must work fast to obtain remaining markers.
Playing the game makes the material more interesting and fun.
 Incorporating games into the workshop is a unique aspect of the
Peer Led Team Learning (PLTL) program at the University of Texas
El Paso (UTEP) and undoubtedly contributes to the program’s
success.