Why picnic? Well, it had a nice ring to it, but this title also connects to Maggie and I’s new math game. During the time we had to complete this project we covered many topics and curricular competencies. Here is my unit mind map to show a couple of the topics.

The basics of this project was based around the mathematical concept of using physical tiles to explain algebraic and perfect square expressions in a visual way. In order to give instructions to this game of ours, we created a “how to” video explaining the basics of our game.

 

 

Develop thinking strategies to solve puzzles and play games 

This first competency basically explains this project, we take take the in information and filter it all into a game for people to play in order to people to learn algebra in a more entertaining way. As Maggie and I created this game we made sure to keep the rules simple so that the mathematics included were clear and easy to understand. Because we did this, the game is suitable to all ages, from the very beginners to advanced. All of our cards range between three different levels, easy, medium and hard. Each of these levels including, multiplying and dividing monomials, perfect squares and negatives.

 

Visualize to explore and illustrate mathematical concepts and relationships +  represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial and symbolic forms 

One of the big parts of this project was, (aside from the math part) creating an aesthetic for the game, a continuous theme for each game piece. I illustrated the mathematical concepts we were focusing on, for example, our picnic/food theme bloomed from the first idea of comparing the value of each algebra tile to different foods and food groups. The “modern breakfast” being somewhat health conscious foods, being the positive foods because they, just like the positive tiles, remain in the equation without affecting it (negativity). Yet the “traditional breakfast” being the more enjoyable foods and somewhat unhealthy, affect the body and the equation noticeably. To go along with this, Maggie created the game board to look like a picnic blanket, for the food tiles to placed on just like a meal. 

 

Connect mathematical concepts with each other, other areas and personal interests 

 Looking back on this project the other area and personal interest that I connected this project to was video making and a little bit of animation.  Just like the other sections of this game I wanted the video to be very simple and easy to follow and I believe that the way our video ended up showed this very well. The other part of the personal interest would be designing the tiles, I really liked creating the symbols for each variable and it made the entire process more entertaining.