Elementary students triumph over LVC all-stars in game show-style competition

Learning in a fun environment was the focus of the first-ever Smarty Pants Showdown at Lebanon Valley College on Tuesday. 

The event pitted students from four regional elementary schools in 4th through 6th grades against LVC students, staff, administrators, and college president James MacLaren in a program fashioned after the television program “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?”

MacLaren emphasized the fun aspect of it as a way for students to learn along with bringing together the college and the community to benefit the children. 

“It’s a fun factor. There’s an opportunity here for the students to learn in a fun environment. I mean, you want to make learning fun, especially for fifth-graders,” MacLaren said. “And we want to show them what LVC is like, so that maybe down the road, you know, they may be LVC students. We start early.”

MacLaren highlighted the college’s long-standing secondary school educational program that provides teachers to those classrooms.

“But also, you know, there’s a lot of LVC graduates who are teaching in our region. We’ve had a long history of strong education programs and I think it’s just good to keep our students in the community and it’s good for the community/college relationship. We both rely on one another to be successful in Annville,” he added.

Serious comments to the press aside, MacLaren certainly had fun, as did students from ELCO, New Covenant Christian and Our Lady of the Cross elementary schools in Lebanon County and Pine Grove Elementary School in Schuylkill County during the 45-minute program. 

He was one of four LVC All-Stars who played against four students at a time over several rounds while answering questions in a format similar to the TV quiz show “Jeopardy!” Categories included history, math, reading, science, vocabulary, and “fun,” which was essentially a potpourri of mixed questions. 

“Big Bird from ‘Sesame Street,’” MacLaren replied to a question about the largest bird on the planet. (The correct answer is ostrich.) 

Another time MacLaren jokingly said the student team was certainly “cheetah” when asked about the fastest mammal on the planet after a “controversy” as to who rang in first to answer that question. His statement received a hearty round of boos from the student audience, who also waved red frowny face placards at his comment. 

Also booing were the elementary school college majors in Professor Jasmine Bucher’s class, who created questions for the friendly competition and who sat with the student teams in the audience during the event at the Leedy Theater in the Allan W. Mund College Center. 

LVC’s Smarty Pants Showdown was designed by 32 future elementary students in their first semester at college who are taking Educational Technology in the Modern Classroom. The event served as the course final and highlighted classroom concepts translated into practice, according to Bucher.

“I decided that this would be their final (exam) this year. So it was part of their syllabus and that this event would be part of their final, so that they could bring together all the things that they’ve been learning all semester,” said Bucher, noting that the elementary students weren’t the only ones there to learn that day.  

There was also a learning factor for college students while testing what they learned this semester. Among other duties in crafting the program they created the questions that are typically at a fifth-grade level. 

Some of the questions included: This tool measures temperature. This part of your body helps pump blood. True or false: a quadrilateral has five sides. What is the name of the ship the pilgrims used to sail to America? (For the record, the answers are thermometer, heart, false, and Mayflower.)

There were four questions per category and had values, much like Jeopardy!, of 200, 400, 600 and 800 points. After all questions had been asked and answered, both teams’ scores were computed to see which team won. Needless to say, the students owned the all-stars during the competition, easily besting them by a margin of 12,100 to 5,900. 

LVC education major Marie Flores of Lebanon worked in the background to cheer on the students. She said the college students were divided into various categories to plan and facilitate the program, adding that she’s following in the footsteps of her older sister.

“My oldest sister is a great inspiration to me. She actually graduated from LVC last year in 2024, and she is now teaching fourth grade,” she said. “So seeing the bond that she created with the kids drew me in, and now I want to try to make a special environment where kids feel welcomed and have a better understanding of whatever topic they may be (learning).”

ELCO teacher Laurabeth Shearer Kapp, who is a fourth-generation LVC graduate, was as excited for the program as were the 10 students she brought to the trivia-based event.

“They were very eager to participate. These are children that I work with that love trivia. They love being able to show what they know, so this is a great forum to challenge their brains,” she said. “It was just fun, and I think everybody came excited for it. I didn’t really know what to expect because it’s their first one, but I think they’ve done a phenomenal job.”

Laura Freed, a fifth-grade teacher at New Covenant Christian School, described the use of technology in the classroom and during the competition, since it utilized visuals while the Jeopardy! theme played in the background and other music between rounds.

“I do PowerPoint games and things like that, but it’s kind of exciting to see that that technology can expand outside the classroom, so for them to be in an activity where, ‘Oh hey, we use this technology in school, but we’re also able to see where it comes in to play outside of school,’” Freed said. “The kids were really excited about the game show aspect of it when we were talking about it. They were very excited about the game show and some of them would get chosen to participate.” 

Our Lady of the Cross teacher Kathy Hatzfeld appreciated that the learning aspect had a fun component to it.

“I think learning should … almost always be fun. There can always be a fun element in each thing that we do as long as there’s learning behind it, and it helps them succeed,” Hatzfeld said. “You want them to be lifelong learners, so if you make it fun, they’ll keep trying to do it. Actually, this morning we were preparing by quizzing each other, trying to find obscure questions. So even just preparing for it was fun.”

That fun element was evident from the moment the students arrived on campus, added Hatzfeld.

“Even when they got here, they were enamored by the college atmosphere. So I thought it was cool for them to also see that college can also be fun. I mean, those students were obviously having a great time, the college students. So for them to see that learning doesn’t stop and fun learning doesn’t stop either. So I thought it was a great example for them to see future students or students like they could be as future (college) students.” 

LebTown asked the teachers what wisdom they would impart to the college students who wish to pursue a similar career in the classroom.

“Things change in education all the time. But as I say to my students, I go back every day for my students because they give to me, and I’m learning right along with them,” said Shearer Kapp, a 30-year veteran of the classroom. “So for any of them, it’s almost like humbling yourself to be able to say, ‘I’m learning with you,’ and they feel that. So investing in their lives and getting to know who they are as individual children makes all the difference.” 

Freed, who is in her 11th year as a teacher, advised the college students to always seek new learning opportunities like the program held at the college.

“I would tell them to keep looking for all of those opportunities to plan and lead events with kids because the more experience you have, the better teacher you’ll be,” she said. “If you look at all those opportunities as opportunities to learn and to become a better teacher you’re going to become a better teacher. Having that practical hands-on (experience), especially on the planning side, getting that planning experience, is a big part of teaching.” 

Hatzfeld, now in her 20th year as an educator, also emphasized the children. 

“To keep enjoying the kids and remembering why you started. Because the paperwork and the red tape can get in the way of that,” she said. “It can be stressful sometimes, but they just need to keep remembering why they started so that each day when they get up, that’s why they get up and go. They’re there for the kids.”