Lizard Point Quizzes ...discovering the world we live in https://lizardpoint.com/blog/feed 2020-12-14T15:16:17-05:00 New quizzes for the British Isles <h3>Introducing three new quizzes on the British Isles! </h3> <p><br />The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic off the north-western coast of continental Europe that consist of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Hebrides, Orkneys, Shetlands and over six thousand smaller isles.<br /><br />The British Isles are home to two countries: the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom.  Students in the United Kingdom learn about the British Isles, not just the UK, so we created a few new quizzes to assist their teachers to deliver the curriculum.</p> <p><img style="float: left; margin: 15px 12px 3px 0px; border: 1px solid #000000;" src="http://lizardpoint.com/blog/content/public/upload/british-isles-islands-small_0_o.gif" alt="British Isles map" /></p> <p> </p> <p><a href="/geography/british-isles-countries-quiz.php">The British Isles: countries quiz</a> breaks down the UK into its 4 autonomous regions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and also includes the Republic of Ireland. To the outside world, it feels a little awkwardly named: within the UK, England, Scotland and Wales are referred to as countries, while N. Ireland is often called a province. But they are not independent countries, so the term 'country' can be confusing.</p> <p><a href="/geography/british-isles-cities-quiz.php">The British Isles: Major cities quiz</a> is similar to the UK major cities quiz but also asks about a few of Ireland's largest cities.</p> <p><br /><a href="/geography/british-isles-islands-quiz.php">The British Isles: islands quiz</a> asks about the major islands and archipelagos in the British isles (thankfully, just 10 questions, not 6,000!) Note that Jersey and Guernsey, which are not actually part of the geographic archipelago of the British Isles, they are closely associated with Britain, and are included in the UK geography curriculum.</p> <p> A British Isles rivers quiz will be coming soon. </p> https://lizardpoint.com/blog/post/new-quizzes-for-the-british-isles/ 2020-12-14T15:16:17-05:00 New Explore button! Preview of a new feature - give it a try and let us know what you think <p> </p> <p>We've been working on a new feature (actually, it's more like two features, but they're related) that will help you study and learn, and we're ready to show it to you on a couple of quizzes:</p> <ul> <li><strong><a href="/geography/uk-cities-quiz.php?qid=152667">UK: Common Entrance Major Cities (custom quiz)</a> and</strong></li> <li><strong><a href="/geography/europe-quiz.php?qid=152664">Western Europe: 18 countries quiz (custom quiz)</a></strong></li> </ul> <p>For now, it's<strong> only available on the above two quizzes</strong>, and <strong>we'd love your feedback </strong>(at <a href="mailto:hello@lizardpoint.com_">hello@lizardpoint.com</a>). We're especially interested in any technical problems that might be related to devices/browsers we haven't tested. </p> <p> </p> <h3>Explore Button</h3> <p><br />The biggest change is the new <strong>Explore button </strong>which you'll find on the end of the row of buttons on the quiz:</p> <p><img src="http://lizardpoint.com/blog/content/public/upload/quiz-buttons-with-new-explore-button.png" alt="quiz buttons with new explore button on the right side" /> </p> <p> When you click on the Explore button, you'll get an area (the Explore Box) to the right of the map that lists all the places the quiz asks about.<strong> Mouse over (or tap on) the map areas to see the name of the place.</strong></p> <p>In the screenshot below, I have clicked on the map on Austria. A <strong>text tip</strong> (or label) appears just above where I clicked that shows me the name of the location I clicked on, and as well,<strong> the name appears in the green bordered box</strong> on the right, just below the title, "Explore the locations". I've circled both of these in red to point them out here.<br /><img src="http://lizardpoint.com/blog/content/public/upload/ExploreBox.gif" alt="the explore box" /></p> <p>You can also <strong>click on any of the place names in the list</strong> in the Explore Box, and you will see them appear on the map the same way: highlighted, and a text tip.</p> <p><strong>Benefit:</strong> for students that are overwhelmed by all the place names on the Labeled Map, the Explore button gives them another way to learn or review the locations just on this quiz. </p> <p> </p> <h3>And the second (related) feature is....</h3> <p>You'll also <strong>see Text Tips when you use the Show Me button</strong>, as shown in the following screenshot of a UK cities quiz. Sometimes, it can be hard to notice what area was highlighted when you click the Show Me button... now it's more obvious. The label (text tip) will be just above the uppermost part of the highlighted area - a bit to the left or to the right depending on how far the highlighted area is from the edge of the image.</p> <p><img src="http://lizardpoint.com/blog/content/public/upload/edinburgh-tooltip.gif" alt="showing the tooltip on Austria" /></p> <p> <strong>Benefit:</strong> it's easier to spot the area highlighted when using the Show Me button.</p> <p>Please try the new feature on these two quizzes, and send any feedback to <a href="mailto:hello@lizardpoint.com">hello@lizardpoint.com</a>.  We'd like to launch this feature by the end of February, and we want to make sure there aren't any issues we aren't aware of.</p> https://lizardpoint.com/blog/post/preview-of-a-new-feature-give-it-a-try-and-let-us-know-what-you-think/ 2020-02-15T10:10:52-05:00 Trivia quizzes are now eligible to earn Stamps! <p>We've just added a<strong> new feature to our Stamp program</strong>. Or should I say <strong>we've just added a new feature to the weekly trivia quizzes</strong>? <a href="/shared/trivia.php">Trivia quizzes</a> are now eligible to earn motivational stamps in the stamp program that's part of the <a href="/shared/about_stamps_features.php">FREE <strong>Personalized Quiz Tracker</strong></a>.<br /><br /></p> <p>The stamp program awards stamps (doh!) to signed in users for the completion of quizzes in certain categories (such as Africa, Europe, Bodies of Water, Cities and more). <strong>Now you can earn stamps for Trivia quizzes as well</strong>.<br /><br /><strong>Your "My Stamps" page</strong> shows you all the stamps you have earned, and it looks something like this:<br /><img src="http://lizardpoint.com/images/blog/myStamps.png" alt="undefined" /></p> <p>When you <strong>earn a new stamp</strong>, you'll get a notification when you complete a quiz, like this:<br /><img src="http://lizardpoint.com/images/blog/trivia-stamp-milestone.png" alt="undefined" /><br /><br />You can earn stamps for the completion of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 100 and 200 trivia quizzes.<br /><br />If you've been signing in when you do the <a href="/shared/trivia.php">trivia quizzes</a>, <strong>we've given you credit for all your completions</strong>. So you don't have to start from scratch! If you want to see your stamps now, sign in, and look in your My Account menu for the My Stamps link.<br /><br />Another great benefit of your free account is that we save your quiz results for all your quizzes, so you can always review your progress.<br /><br />You can <a href="/shared/about_stamps_features.php">read more about the Personalized Quiz Tracker and stamp program</a>. And you can <a href="/shared/signin.php"><strong>create your free account here</strong></a>.<br /><br /></p> https://lizardpoint.com/blog/post/trivia-quizzes-are-now-eligible-to-earn-stamps/ 2019-12-06T21:01:23-05:00 A new set of quizzes to test your knowledge in the other direction <p>What's the opposite of clicking on a map to show where a country is?  We'll show you the country on the map, and you type in its name.<br /><br />This reverse activity will keep your brain fresh - you'll have to think in a different direction, plus you'll have to learn how to spell. It's funny the things you think you can spell until you actually have to do it!<br /><br />Here's what it looks like:</p> <p><img src="http://lizardpoint.com/blog/content/public/upload/americas-txt-screenshot.gif" alt="undefined" /></p> <p><strong>Spelling counts</strong>. We can't check every possible name for a country, so for the most part, we are using the<strong> common short names used in English</strong>.  <br /><br />If you're in doubt as to what we'll accept for the answer, check the section near the top of the screen where it says:<strong> "This quiz asks about these places", followed by the list of names</strong>, in alphabetic order.  <strong>This list to help you with your spelling will only be available in practice mode.</strong> In other test and strict test modes, you'll need to remember how to spell.<br /><br /><strong>If we accept an alternative</strong>, it will be in parentheses - <strong>for example "Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)"</strong>. Good news - you don't have to type the accents. If you choose to use accents, we ignore them, so a correct answer doesn't necessarily mean you got the accents correct.</p> <p>Another thing you can do in practice mode is get a HINT. Just click on the Hint button to see the first letter of the country name... keep clicking to reveal more letters. For now, you can ask for as many hints as you need.</p> <p><strong>Where to find these quizzes:</strong></p> <p>We've just launched 9 of these quizzes. Look for the <strong>Tt</strong> symbol on the menu: </p> <p><img src="http://lizardpoint.com/blog/content/public/upload/menu-for-txt-quizzes.gif" alt="undefined" /><br /><br /><br />Here are the direct links to them:</p> <ul> <li><a href="/geography/africa-txt-quiz.php">Africa countries - type the answer</a></li> <li><a href="/geography/americas-txt-quiz.php">Americas countries - type the answer</a></li> <li><a href="/geography/asia-txt-quiz.php">Asia countries - type the answer</a></li> <li><a href="/geography/europe-txt-quiz.php">Europe countries - type the answer</a></li> <li><a href="/geography/oceania-txt-quiz.php?qid=118430">Oceania - countries - type the answer</a></li> <li><a href="/geography/samerica-txt-quiz.php">South America countries- type the answer</a></li> <li><a href="/geography/usa-txt-quiz.php">US states - type the answer</a></li> <li><a href="/geography/canada-txt-quiz.php">Canada provinces and territories - type the answer</a></li> </ul> <p> Also,<strong> all of these quizzes are customizable</strong>, meaning you can choose which questions to test yourself or your students on. Some are customizable by anyone with a free account, and some are customizable by premium members only.<br /><br />Happy learning!<br />Lyndsey</p> https://lizardpoint.com/blog/post/a-new-set-of-quizzes-to-test-your-knowledge-in-the-other-direction/ 2019-08-09T15:01:14-04:00