How to Conduct a School Quiz Bee

Co-authored by Alexander Peterman, MA

Last Updated: March 17, 2023 References

A school-wide quiz or bee can be a great way to teach students about certain subjects and test their knowledge. You may conduct a quiz bee that focuses on one subject, such as spelling or a quiz bee that tests students on several subjects, such as math, science, and social studies. You can use a live host for the quiz bee or create a school quiz bee that can be played on a computer or online. You should also take steps to ensure the school quiz bee is organized properly and runs smoothly to ensure it is a great success.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Organizing the School Quiz Bee

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Determine the format for the quiz bee. You should determine the format of the quiz bee, including the subject matter of the quiz bee, the number of students competing in the quiz bee, and how the quiz bee will unfold. Having a set format for the quiz bee will ensure it runs smoothly.^{[1]
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- Decide if the participants in the quiz bee are going to be in teams or competing as individuals. If your school is fairly large, you may break up students into teams based on classroom so there is enough time for each team to compete in the quiz bee. If your school is fairly small, you may be able to allow the students to compete individually.
- If there are going to be many teams or students competing in the quiz bee, you may have each team or student compete in heats against each other in their classrooms. The winners of each heat may then go on to the final round of the school quiz bee and compete in front of the entire school.
- You may also want to host a classroom bee for just your students, using the same instructions. However, you can tailor the instructions to focus on just your class.
2
Outline the rules for the quiz bee. It may be best to keep the rules simple for a school quiz bee, as you want the quiz to appeal to a wide range of students and age groups. Write the rules down so you can reference them and share them with the participants of the quiz bee. It's best to collaborate with classroom teachers at your school to create the rules. Ask other teachers to review the rules to make sure they're easy to understand.^{[2]
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- For example, you may institute a time limit for each response to a quiz question by a team or individual student. You may allow the host to read out the quiz question to the team and then start the timer. If you are timing the responses, have a timekeeper on hand or use a stopwatch that is large and easy for all participants to see.
- You may also make a rule about what to do in the event of a tie, such as a rapid fire deciding round where whichever team or participant responds to a quiz question first wins.
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3
Compile the content for the school quiz bee. Consider if the quiz bee will test students on a particular subject, such as a spelling quiz bee, or on a variety of subjects, such as mathematics, science, and social studies questions. You may pull test questions from existing quizzes from previous classes or create new test questions for the quiz bee.^{[3]
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- Ask other teachers in your school to submit questions for the quiz bee. Not only will this make your job easier, it will also ensure your quiz bee reflects the material taught in each classroom.
- You may also use sample quiz questions from standardized tests in the school quiz bee. You may go for a variety of quiz questions, ranging from very easy to very difficult to ensure the participants have a fair chance at winning the quiz bee.
- If you pull questions from previous tests and quizzes, include questions from different teachers' tests and quizzes. Additionally, ask other teachers in your school to review the questions you plan to ask to ensure fairness, since they may have taught a subject differently or focused on different topics.

Part 2

Part 2 of 4:

Using a Live Host or Announcer

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Look for a host at your school. You can conduct the school quiz bee by first finding a host at your school, such as a teacher, a teacher’s aide, or a member of the school’s administration. If you are a teacher, you may host the school quiz bee yourself. The host should be able to be present for the entirety of the school quiz bee.^{[4]
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- If you're hosting a classroom bee, you can be the host.
2
Bring in a guest announcer. You may also opt to bring in a host or announcer that is not from your school. This could be a parent, a former student, or a member of the community. You may choose a guest announcer who has participated in school events before or someone you believe will make a good host.^{[5]
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Make sure the host is confident in front of a crowd. You should check that the host is comfortable speaking clearly and slowly to students, as they will need to read out the questions in the school quiz bee. The host should also be able to project their voice so they can be heard in a room and have a friendly, encouraging demeanor so the participants in the school quiz bee feel supported while they compete.
- You may look for a host who has experience with conducting school quiz bees or who is comfortable speaking in front of a crowd.
- If your school has a drama program, talk to the drama teacher to find out if they might be willing to host.

Part 3

Part 3 of 4:

Creating a School Quiz Bee On a Computer

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Use an existing online quiz. You may also consider using a quiz creation program on your computer to conduct the school quiz bee. You can find quiz creation programs online. Some quiz creation programs are free to use or may require a small fee.^{[6]
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- You can use existing quizzes in the program in your school quiz bee and adjust them to fit your needs.
- Some programs have an option where you allow the program to conduct the school quiz bee for you, with animations and automated cues that play when a student or team clicks on a question.
2
Design your own school quiz bee. If you are familiar with how to use animation programs, you may try designing your own school quiz bee program. You may need to use a quiz design program to create a custom quiz for your school’s quiz bee or use animation programs like Adobe Flash.
- You should include interactive elements into your school quiz bee, such as buttons that trigger audio prompts or a running total of the player’s score on the bottom of the screen. You may also allow the participants to enter in text into the quiz to answer a question or have a results screen at the end of the quiz.^{[8]
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- You may also include interesting background images in the school quiz bee and make the quiz appear visually appealing so the participants are more engaged in the content.
3
Test the school quiz bee on a school computer. Before you launch the school quiz bee in front of students, you should do a test run of the quiz on a school computer. You may put yourself in the role of a participant and run through the quiz on your own. Using a school computer to test the quiz can help to ensure it will run smoothly for students at school.
- You should make sure any interactive elements of the quiz are functioning properly. You should also check to make sure the questions and answers that appear in the quiz are correct, as you do not want a participant to notice an error during the quiz bee.
- Additionally, you need to make sure all students have equal access to the quiz. For example, programs like Kahoot! require students to join the quiz with a smart phone or tablet, so you would need to ensure all students had access to these.

Part 4

Part 4 of 4:

Ensuring the School Quiz Bee Goes Well

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Enlist participants. Get the word out about the event so students can sign up to compete. Ask teachers to announce it in their classes. Make posters about the event to put up around school. You want as many students as possible to be involved so everyone at school has an opportunity to compete.^{[9]
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- You may also work with other teachers to put together a list of students to enlist as participants in the school quiz bee. This may be a list of start students or students who show potential and might make good competitors.
- Choose your date well in advance of the quiz bee so students have plenty of time to sign up. This also allows time for word of mouth to spread.
2
Provide sample questions to the participants. You may provide contestants with sample question packets so that they can practice ahead of time. These can be especially helpful if the competing teams plan to practice together beforehand, or if students are unfamiliar with what a quiz bee is like and want to get a sense of the question levels beforehand.^{[10]
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- You may create your own sample question packets with questions that are similar to the questions in the school quiz bee. You may hand out the sample question packets one week before the competition so the students have time to prepare.
3
Do a practice round. To get the participants warmed up, you might want to conduct a practice round before the school quiz bee begins. These can be easy questions just so people get the hang of how it works with the reading, the timing, and their answers.
- Doing this can also allow the participants to get used to the format of the school quiz bee and be better prepared to compete once the event begins.

Community Q&A

Question

How many rounds should be included in a science quiz?

Sobi

Top Answerer

My advice is not to have too many rounds, usually I have about 10. Any more than that may cause the participants to get slightly bored, which is not the effect we want the quiz to have on them. We want them to enjoy themselves.