The Spinning Wheel

Spinning Wheels are a great way of introducing an element of randomness into the classroom.

A quick Google search reveals how popular spinning wheels are. They can be used for a number of games and they can also be used to determine the points students receive, the topic they are going to talk about or the question they have to answer.

You can find some spinning wheels online and there are also apps available for both iOS and Android, but what if you want to use a spinning wheel in your presentation?

So, I created a spinning wheel in PowerPoint. There are some advantages to this version. It can be inserted into any presentation by copying and pasting the slide and it doesn’t require an internet connection.

Watch the Spinning Wheel demo to see how it used.

Video demo of the spinning wheel.
Video runtime is 1 minute and 29 seconds.

Download the Spinning Wheel PowerPoint.

Follow the link or click on the image to download the template.

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An updated version of the Spinning Wheel has been released.

Click on the image above or follow this link for information about the newest version.

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Once you have downloaded the template, add your own text to each segment of the wheel.

1. You may choose to add points and your students spin the wheel to determine what points they win.
2. You may prefer to add topics and ask your students to discuss them over a set amount of time.
3. You could also add question markers and ask your students to spin the wheel to determine the question they should answer.

Using the template

How you use the template depends on what kind of spinning wheel you create.

If you create a spinning wheel with points or prizes, then it will probably accompany a game or activity you have already prepared. The wheel will then be spun intermittently throughout that activity.

What about creating a spinning wheel that is the focus of the activity.

Topics

The Spinning Wheel as projected on a surface.
This version shows different topics written in each segment.

• Prepare your spinning wheel by writing a topic for each segment.
• Divide your students into pairs or groups.
• Spin the wheel.
• Nominate a student to say when to stop the wheel.
• Stop the wheel.
• Introduce the topic.
• Encourage your students to talk about the topic for a set time.
• Assign a time limit of 2 minutes or negotiate a time limit with your students.
• When the time is up, ask the students to stop talking.
• Spin the wheel again.
• Introduce the next topic and set a new time limit.
• Repeat as many times as necessary.

Questions

The Spinning Wheel as projected on a surface.
This version shows different question prompts written in each segment.

• Prepare your spinning wheel by writing a question number in each segment.
• Prepare a list of 20 questions.
• Divide your students into pairs, groups or teams.
• Spin the wheel.
• Nominate a student to say when to stop the wheel.
• Stop the wheel.
• Ask the question associated with the question number on the wheel.
• Any student, pair, group or team can answer.
  • If the answer correctly, spin the wheel. The student who got the previous question correct and say when to stop the wheel.
  • If the student answers incorrectly, leave the question open. Encourage the other students to answer the question.
  • If no student has answer within a time limit, spin the wheel again.
• Spin the wheel again to introduce the next question.
• Repeat as many times as necessary or until all questions have been answered.

How the template works

Video tutorial showing how to change the effect options.
Video runtime is 1 minute and 6 seconds.

The spinning wheel was created by dividing a circle into 20 segments and then applying a continuous spin animation, which is assigned to a trigger. The trigger in this case is the start button labelled ‘spin.’ The result is a spinning wheel that can be activated by clicking a button.

To create your own spinning wheel, you need to do the following three things:

1. Divide a circle into equal segments and then group the segment together. After which you can apply a spin animation.
2. Repeat the animation so it continues until the next mouse click.
3. Create an anchor so the PowerPoint doesn’t transition to the next slide.

Creating a spinning wheel

• The spinning wheel was created by drawing a large circle.
• Rectangles that were longer than the diameter of the circle and that had a width of 0.01 were placed over the circle.
• All the shapes were selected, and fragment shapes was chosen from the merge shapes option on the format ribbon.
• This divided the circle into segments. The color of each segment was changed and a text box was placed over each segment.
• All these shapes were then grouped together.
• A smaller circle was drawn and placed in the center of the wheel. This would act as the start button.
• The wheel group was selected and given a spin animation. The start button was assigned as a trigger for this animation.

Set a repeat animation by opening the Effect Options / Timing dialog.

• Select the wheel. You will notice that it has a spin animation.
• Open the animation pane.
  • Go to the animations ribbon.
  • In the advanced animation section, there is a small icon labelled animation pane.
  • Click on the icon to open the animation pane.
• Left-click on the down arrow next to the spin animation.
• Click on effect options. Make sure the spin animation is set to 360 degrees.
• Go to the timing tab.
  • To go directly to the timing tab, left-click on the down arrow next to the animation.
  • Click on timing.
• Select until next click from the repeat drop down box. The animation will now be continuous.
• Click OK.

The anchor

The spin animation will continue until the next mouse click, but that mouse click will also move to the next slide unless an anchor is created. It is called an anchor because it keeps you on the same slide.

The anchor is an invisible shape that is hidden behind the spin button.

• The first time the spin button is clicked, the wheel begins to spin.
• The second time the spin button is clicked, the wheel will stop spinning and the hidden shape will appear and disappear in 00.02 seconds.
• Now the spin animation can be repeated as many times as necessary before you move to the next slide.

Screenshot of the ‘anchor’ with the animation pane and selection pane open.

Caution: Don’t delete the anchor as it will affect the functionality of the template.

The above steps should give you some idea about how to create new spinning wheels if you want more or less segments.

Do you have any suggestions regarding the Spinning Wheel?

Please leave a comment if you have any ideas you would like to share or if you have any questions about the template.

Alternatively you can send me a message on my Facebook page or on Twitter.

Thanks for reading and take care!

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You may also like to read:

The Mystery Door Game is a fun way to get students involved in their own education by providing opportunities to make choices about what they are going to learn or do. This activity can be used to choose topics of discussion, choose activities, choose a challenge, or choosing a reward.

 

Random Choices is based on an activity I came across in ‘Drama and Improvisation’ by Ken Wilson. The excel file chooses a random activity, location and time from a list. By pressing F9, you can generate new random choices. Students can then explain why they are doing the activity in an unusual place, or it can be used as part of a gesture or hot seat activity.

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The Spinning Wheel was designed with Microsoft PowerPoint 2016. Animations and sounds may differ when opened in other presentation software.

Microsoft® Office® is a copyrighted product of the Microsoft® corporation. All images are for educational purposes only.

The template and images in this post are free to download but they are intended for educational purposes only.