SCHOOL ACTIVITY REVIEW: Quiz Bowl
Aaron
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Quick: For ten points, answer this question about vitamins: Also called cobalamin, it affects DNA synthesis and regulation. Name this vitamin that aids in fatty acid synthesis and energy production.
Answer: ... If you like applying quick wits to trivia, Quiz Bowl may be for you. Among the lesser-known of high school activities, Quiz Bowl is a wonderful thing to get into and is beneficial for your academic life as well as enjoyable on a personal level. Most schools have something equivalent to this (Knowledge Bowl, College Bowl, Trivia Team) that is part of a national organization. In the case of Quiz Bowl, the national group is NAQT — National Academic Quiz Tournaments. It's a really great thing to try out because it brings kids together with a shared mission of blasting out rapid-fire know-it-trivia that is usually both fun and funny.
In high school Quiz Bowl, teams from different schools compete against one another in trivia matches, usually in four-person teams. The goal of the match is to be the first to answer a question correctly. Judges read questions aloud to both teams, and the first team to buzz in disables the other team from doing so. However, if the team that buzzed first answers incorrectly, they can potentially lose points and will lose the opportunity to answer again. Depending on the tournament, questions will usually be on the topics of literature, mathematics, pop culture, science and geography.
Most teams hold practice only once or twice a week, with tournaments being held perhaps one Saturday a month. During practice, kids get a chance to work on knowledge in different topics. Math and science, culture, literature and mythology are common categories. The students focus on refining their buzz reflex so they can get the first shot at the question. We also cover basic strategies for playing.
Newcomers need not be experts in a certain area. Simply a basic knowledge or an interest in a certain area is beneficial. Often, players will be put into teams where the other members all have a specific area of knowledge. For example, a four-person team could have one member that knows pop culture and sports, another that knows math and science, a third that knows literature and a fourth that knows geography. This way, the team covers all themes of the question categories.
Whether you're a five-time Jeopardy winner or you won a game of Trivial Pursuit once, Quiz Bowl is a fine after-school activity to look into. It's a fun way to spend the afternoon, (or evening, in the case of tournaments) and it will give you a chance to make some new friends at your school as well as learn a thing or two! Check to see if your school has it. If not, there's likely a neighborhood school with a team that would be happy to let you join. For information on how to start a high school team from the national organization, go to:
http://www.naqt.com/HowTo/start-a-high-school-team.html.
To see the kinds of questions the activity covers, consult an archived Quiz Bowl packet at: http://www.quizbowlpackets.com/.
(As to the vitamin in question: Vitamin B12.)
Answer: ... If you like applying quick wits to trivia, Quiz Bowl may be for you. Among the lesser-known of high school activities, Quiz Bowl is a wonderful thing to get into and is beneficial for your academic life as well as enjoyable on a personal level. Most schools have something equivalent to this (Knowledge Bowl, College Bowl, Trivia Team) that is part of a national organization. In the case of Quiz Bowl, the national group is NAQT — National Academic Quiz Tournaments. It's a really great thing to try out because it brings kids together with a shared mission of blasting out rapid-fire know-it-trivia that is usually both fun and funny.
In high school Quiz Bowl, teams from different schools compete against one another in trivia matches, usually in four-person teams. The goal of the match is to be the first to answer a question correctly. Judges read questions aloud to both teams, and the first team to buzz in disables the other team from doing so. However, if the team that buzzed first answers incorrectly, they can potentially lose points and will lose the opportunity to answer again. Depending on the tournament, questions will usually be on the topics of literature, mathematics, pop culture, science and geography.
Most teams hold practice only once or twice a week, with tournaments being held perhaps one Saturday a month. During practice, kids get a chance to work on knowledge in different topics. Math and science, culture, literature and mythology are common categories. The students focus on refining their buzz reflex so they can get the first shot at the question. We also cover basic strategies for playing.
Newcomers need not be experts in a certain area. Simply a basic knowledge or an interest in a certain area is beneficial. Often, players will be put into teams where the other members all have a specific area of knowledge. For example, a four-person team could have one member that knows pop culture and sports, another that knows math and science, a third that knows literature and a fourth that knows geography. This way, the team covers all themes of the question categories.
Whether you're a five-time Jeopardy winner or you won a game of Trivial Pursuit once, Quiz Bowl is a fine after-school activity to look into. It's a fun way to spend the afternoon, (or evening, in the case of tournaments) and it will give you a chance to make some new friends at your school as well as learn a thing or two! Check to see if your school has it. If not, there's likely a neighborhood school with a team that would be happy to let you join. For information on how to start a high school team from the national organization, go to:
http://www.naqt.com/HowTo/start-a-high-school-team.html.
To see the kinds of questions the activity covers, consult an archived Quiz Bowl packet at: http://www.quizbowlpackets.com/.
(As to the vitamin in question: Vitamin B12.)