Ten Questions

We are going to play a game about asking questions and remembering responses to solve a problem. You will work with your classmates to ask questions to solve the challenge before you reach ten questions. When we ask questions and remember the responses, we can learn more about specific topics so we can learn together as a community!

1. Choose an age-appropriate, narrow category such as animals, sports, foods, clothing types, etc. Tell students you are thinking of something specific in that category but do not say aloud what it is (e.g., a horse, soccer, milk).
2. Students must take turns asking a total of ten “yes” or “no” questions to guess the item. For example, students may ask: Is it a land animal? Is it a game with a ball? Is it a vegetable? And so on.
3. Pause after five questions and ask the class to remember and review what facts they have learned so far.
4. After ten questions, if no one has guessed the answer, give a hint. Then students have ten more questions to guess. Remember to pause after five questions to remember and review all the facts learned.

• What about this game was easy or hard for you?
• What strategies did you use? What strategies did you hear other people use that you want to try?

For primary school students:

• Ask students to record key information from each question on the board to decrease the memory challenge.
• Encourage students to choose the topic and facilitate the Kernel.

For students in grades 5-6:

• Instead of playing with the whole class, break the class into smaller groups and have students facilitate in their small groups.
• Choose a category relevant to an area of study.