For todays post is will be sharing the things that we have done in our Scimatics project which as been showing polynomials in unique was. My group ( Tom and Anthony ) decided it would interesting to create and show these polynomials in Minecraft because we decided we could show polynomials through blocks and structures, our driving question is “ how can we show that games involve polynomails, so here is how it went.

In order to communicate and represent the polynomials in Minecraft we would have to first create some sort of area to create this and we chose to create a small mini game where each player had certain materials and had to make a certain structure. They would receive a certain amount of blocks to use so they had to be creative with what they had.

The first build we did was way to big and to complicated to calculate the total volume or perimeter. We had used a forest theme for this build and decided that this one would represent a practice build instead of the actual build.

We then created a smaller cave build was a lot smaller allowing us to represent polynomials in the total volume in cm3 and also in the perimeter. We had to take different angles of each build to we could clearly see the perimeter, and we found it was best if we took an aerial shot.

After we got the shot I was able to trace the outline in Sketches pro, and then I had to find the basic measurements for a normal Minecraft block ( 6.5 cm x 6.5cm x 6.5cm or 1m3) and then apply them to the outline that I traced. Some parts were more difficult because they involved slabs ( 6.5cm x 3.25 x 6.5 or (3) 6.5-half) but in the end I figured out the total perimeter for each build and the total volume for Anthony’s build. Here are the outlines with calculation.

 

We then put all of our information into a presentation and showed it to the class.

Overall I think this project was quite interesting. We were allowed to choose our own driving question which gave us a lot of free choice on what our project was going to be, but we also had to think reasonably because we had limited time to create all this so being wise about time was also important. I think that my groups choice was something new that I haven’t tried and I found it to be a fun challenge as well as an educational experience.

 

that’s all for now.