The DK Quiz

Today is the last day of state assessments that is spread out over two weeks, and Eric will be taking science. I simply do not understand how giving a student with significant language delay a standardized test is in any way appropriate or reliable. Regardless. Yesterday I looked around for science review material and came across this gem of an educational site DK Quiz. The material covered is aimed at middle school and high school students. The multiple choice format is given in manageable chunks of 20 questions. What I really like about the quizzes is the reading level for the questions is just right for Eric. He can focus on content instead of trying to understand the question. The answers are also very straight forward, unlike some that totally confuse Eric such as “none of the above is not true.” Some questions are accompanied by DK’s crisp signature photos. This is helpful since Eric has much better retention when information is presented to him in multiple ways: read it, see it, hear it, write it, speak it.

Above are the nine categories to choose from. Within each there are a handful of subcategories. From the quizzes page you can filter by level of difficulty: easy, medium, hard. When you click the correct answer it turns green and adds a check mark to a bar near the top of the screen. If you select the wrong answer, it turns orange, and an “x” is added to the bar. The correct answer lights up in green. What would have made this even better is having an “explain” link when you get it wrong. I’ve seen this on other apps and Eric takes advantage of this feature.

You can take the quiz as often as you like, but the “score” is based on your first try. There is a leaderboard on the homepage showing players with top scores. This is potentially discouraging for students like Eric who struggle academically. They usually cannot compete with the wiz kids. For others, I can see how leaderboards could be a fun and motivating challenge.

You can also collect badges for completing quizzes, and gold stars for getting all the answers correct --even if it’s not your first try at a quiz. These achievements are better for Eric since they reward effort instead of inherent intelligence.

DK Quiz offers bonuses that are unlocked when you finish certain quizzes. Bonuses include videos and screensavers. Completing some quizzes enters your name into a prize draw and you can win real prizes such as movie DVDs and books. This site is free to use and available to all in the UK, US and a few other countries.

Love their graphics...