‘Accurate and fun for younger learners’: Carleton Place students help to create math game show
Upper Canada District School Board (UCDSB) students are helping each other to have fun with math.
Grade 6 students from Beckwith Public School (BPS) in Carleton Place helped to design and host a math game show for 1,300 Grade 3 students across the UCDSB.
The goal was to create student-driven interactive learning experiences. The older students could build their leadership skills and the younger students could learn the curriculum in a fun way. Principal of EQAO and Student Success Rob Scott shared these goals in a media release issued on Monday, April 20, 2026.
The Grade 6 students at BPS designed the show through content creation and coming up with the questions.
“They’re a strong group of leaders who enjoy a challenge,” said teacher Angela Bennett.
“They were also excited to be part of something that would support younger students.”
The Grade 6 students made Grade 3 math and writing questions with the help of Bennett and Scott. They used curriculum resources to create multiple-choice ‘distractors’. These are incorrect answers options designed to challenge the students.
“They really took ownership of the process,” said Scott.
“From selecting topics to crafting questions, students were thoughtful about how to make the content both accurate and fun for younger learners.”
The students used the questions to create the live interactive math game show using the Knowledgehook platform.
“Mrs. Bennett and Mr. Scott helped a lot and showed us where to begin, which made it easier to get started,” explained Grade 6 student Tahlia Hussein.
On Thursday, April 9, 2026, the game show was hosted by staff and three Grade 6 students live over Teams to 63 Grade 3 classes across the UCDSB.
“It was hard, but rewarding,” said BPS student and co-host Cole Thompson. “Writing the questions and coming up with the distractors was the hardest part.”
“All three students were outstanding,” Scott said.
“They brought strong communication skills, confidence and a great sense of humour, helping make math fun and accessible for the Grade 3 audience.”
UCDSB-wide game shows have been running for the past two years, but this was the first time such a game show was created using student-written content.
“There is real potential to expand this model and involve more students across different schools in the future,” Scott said.
The game show and its creation supported math learning and cross-grade collaboration.
“I’ve noticed that after writing the questions, my students can more easily pick out the distractors and understand why they’re included,” said Bennett.
“They also saw how much thought goes into these questions. Working in pairs or small groups gave them a chance to step into the role of teacher and leader.”