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RAUK - Archived Forum - Herp ID Quiz

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Herp ID Quiz:

Author	Message
Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar	Posted: 04 Nov 2007 Hi Folks, I've been thinking of ways to help people with their Herp Identification skills, whilst we're all in hibernation mode. I've been toying with an online quiz. Grateful if people could have a crack at it, see what they think, and maybe offer suggestions for improving the value? Link: SARG ID Quiz Cheers, Steve Steve Langham - Chairman Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).

Alan Hyde Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 1416 View other posts by Alan Hyde	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 Nice Idea Steve But, LOL! I didn't know it would judge my speed also . Hey it's first thing in the morning and i'm sitting at my computer bleary-eyed with my first coffee. O-> O+>

Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 Heh....no worries, it doesn't know who's doing the quiz One day I'll get it to track the most common ID mistakes...and try to help improve the ID pages. Was it easy to use? Steve Langham - Chairman Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).

GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 You answered 9 out of 10 questions correctly in 91 seconds ! Your combined score is: 74% Your Rating: "Pretty good !, quicker answers will give you a higher score !" It's a bit frustrating as it is a timed test, the ID is instant, but it takes much longer to submit the answer with the menu than it does to make the ID. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant

Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 [QUOTE=GemmaJF] It's a bit frustrating as it is a timed test, the ID is instant, but it takes much longer to submit the answer with the menu than it does to make the ID. [/QUOTE] Agreed....any ideas for making a better MMI? Having initially done it without a time....it lacked that 'urgency' to get an ID quickly (and I caught Sarah using ID pages to get the right answer!) I could easily have timed and non-timed variants as difficulty options? Next stage of difficulty will be to assign a gender...that'll be fun 9 out of 10 ??...was that a 'menu' slip ? Steve Langham - Chairman Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).

GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 Nope, I actually got one wrong You could try reducing the menu for each picture. You wouldn't need snakes if the picture was of a newt, I guess you might need lizards though! Have you thought of using 'buttons' rather than a menu? Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant

GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 Had another go, the menu didn't seem so bad this time Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant

GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 You answered 10 out of 10 questions correctly in 70 seconds ! Your combined score is: 85% Your Rating: "An excellent score ! - you'll soon be an expert !" Well that's a relief, go on can anyone get an 'expert' rating Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant

Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 ROFL.... At least you didn't get the rating which suggests trying embroidery as a hobby You almost hit 'expert', I think the cusp is at 90%, which is about 50 something seconds. I can manage it in sub 40 seconds, with a little practice (but then I took all the pictures ). Yeah I did consider buttons, but as all introduced species will be included...that's a lot of buttons! Maybe worth a go though, grouped by snakes, lizards, frogs + toads & newts, (I might miss out the terrapins). Steve Langham - Chairman Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).

GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 Don't know, some people might confuse newts and lizards, it must be the most common ID mistake we see on the records that are submitted. We have lots of records for slow moving lizards found under logs! As a tool for improving ID I think it works as is, the menu is a bit difficult at first, but with a few goes it gets much easier. Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant

Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 If I had a pound for every Smooth snake reported, that turned out to be a Slow worm.... And I did like the Pm reported as a GCN too :P...running up a wall :P Steve Langham - Chairman Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).

Alan Hyde Senior Member Joined: 17 Apr 2003 No. of posts: 1416 View other posts by Alan Hyde	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 [QUOTE=GemmaJF] can anyone get an 'expert' rating </SPAN></H2>[/QUOTE] Eeer not with my dragging internet conection . This is another thing that has to be considered, those that have slow loading pages will never get a high speed rating. When I did the test this morning I got 10 out of 10 68% O-> O+>

tim hamlett Senior Member Joined: 17 Dec 2006 No. of posts: 572 View other posts by tim hamlett	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 hi steve. the quiz is a brilliant idea and it works on several levels most notably that it's great fun and that the format makes it a really effective educational tool. the kids (aged 9 & 6 with relatively limited field experience) have had a good few goes and wanted to carry on but they had already gone past their bed time! they didn't really take the time element into consideration at first as they were just concentrating on the id. with this, they started off getting the basics every time, ie common lizards, slowworms, adders and grass snakes but couldn't get the more obscure species (well, obscure for us because we've never seen them in the wild) such as the sand lizards, wall lizards and smooth snakes. they also kept wanting common frogs and toads to be something more exotic. however, after several goes they started to nail the others as well so it has so far proven to be an extremely effective learning tool. by the time they had to be forced to go to bed they were starting to think about their speed and scores and about the other species on the list, eg green lizards etc, so i'm sure the'yll be on it again tomorrow. imho, you're right to combine id and time elements, even as part of the 'easy' stage. like gemma, i was unsure about this at first but having seen how the kids have used the format to firstly develop their general id skills then go on to challenge themselves further by trying to be quicker, i think it works really well. i did experience a couple of difficulties though, when trying to go for 10/10 in under 60 secs. firstly, as only half the id picture appeared on my screen initially, i had to scroll down from the picture to the answer box, then scroll back up to make my selection, then back down to confirm the answer. this was a littlle awkward. secondly, i'm pretty sure i highlighted natterjack toad and common toad on two occasions but my answer came out as hybrid newt or something so there may be a technical problem of some sort. thirdly, there seemed to be more wall lizard pictures to id than anything else, with snakes being rare and no newts at all. all-in-all thoguh a brilliant idea really well executed and we are looking forward to having another go tomorrow. tim

Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 Hi Tim, Thanks for the brilliant feedback...Kids are what it's all about...and I don't have any to test it on, so incredibly useful ! (Best not show them the 'Lickety-splat' frog game on the 'Animals" page, as it's less educational and more addicitve ! ) Very interesting, your comment about having to scroll down...I'd love to know which browser and screen resolution you use, as I have very limited testing ability. I might be able to sort image sizing...although I expect you're using Internet Explorer, which has limited standards compliance (although it's my job to make sure it works on IE also). There's no way I can imagine that the wrong species can be forwarded, when the correct species is selected...as I'm using HTML FORM passing, what you see is what you get. I'd be interested for you to check what gets written into the text box next to the submit button, if it's ever different to what you selected. (might be a slow scrolling menu issue). Newts are being added tonight, as well as a de-brief tool explaining differences from the animal selected and the correct choice, but as an optional step. If one child has learned something...that makes it all worth while Steve Langham - Chairman Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).

tim hamlett Senior Member Joined: 17 Dec 2006 No. of posts: 572 View other posts by tim hamlett	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 hi steve yes i'm on ie. i zoomed out to 75% to get everything on the scren at the same time and realised that in my haste i've been brushing the touch pad on my way down the page and that's why hybrid newts have been appearing where toads etc should have been...d'ho! still...must be a refief to know there are no technical problems...just malco users like me and there's not much you can do about that! just had another few goes and managed 91% 10/10 in 44 secs with a bit more care and the full screen visible. also lots more variety with surprise appearences from a green lizard and and aesculapian...excellent! cheers tim tim hamlett39391.7311342593

Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar	Posted: 05 Nov 2007 I don't mean for this thread to get technical...but, from personal experience, I use the excellent Mozilla FireFox free browser. There are loads of reasons why this is a superb browser, but most can be summed up as "It's not a Microsoft product " - and, it just works ! No need to uninstall IE, you can just download it a see what you think...I did, and have never looked back. Steve Langham - Chairman Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).

Suzi Senior Member Joined: 06 Apr 2005 No. of posts: 860 View other posts by Suzi	Posted: 06 Nov 2007 I got them all right but found all the scrolling involved a drag. Where was the timing element I never saw that?! Did I not click correctly? Suz

tim hamlett Senior Member Joined: 17 Dec 2006 No. of posts: 572 View other posts by tim hamlett	Posted: 06 Nov 2007 like the newts! kids managed 84% today without any help and had to be dragged away from the computer again at bed time! tim

Vicar Senior Member Joined: 02 Sep 2004 No. of posts: 1181 View other posts by Vicar	Posted: 06 Nov 2007 BUTTONS!...better or not ? SARG ID Quiz Tim, 84% is a superb score from the kids!...I doubt I'd do so well (because of those pesky amphibians) if I didn't know the pictures ! More pics going on it tonight..well over 100 available pics already Vicar39392.8310069444 Steve Langham - Chairman Surrey Amphibian & Reptile Group (SARG).

GemmaJF Admin Group Joined: 25 Jan 2003 No. of posts: 2090 View other posts by GemmaJF	Posted: 07 Nov 2007 You answered 10 out of 10 questions correctly in 45 seconds ! Your combined score is: 91% Your Rating: "Expert score ! - Time to try a more difficult level (when one exists)" ha ha ha I beat the kids and got an expert score (how sad am I), I think the buttons are way better what does everyone else think? I would like to see a few pixels between each row of buttons, just to make it even easier to select the right one Gemma Fairchild, Independent Ecological Consultant