Hello again! Welcome back. We finally completed our project for scimatics! For this project, we had to create a board game using our knowledge of plate tectonics. Before we started our board games, we needed to build knowledge on the topic before we could start, so we did a bunch of workbooks and read a bunch of textbooks so we could understand the basics.
The driving question for this project is “How are thematic and mathematical elements used in game design?”. We would spend the next few weeks learning about probability, plate tectonics, and mathematical questions in order to make a game that includes probability and plate tectonic facts. At the beginning of this project in the launch faze, about every class we would be assigned these tectonic plate workbooks that looks a bit like this:
While we were filling out the questions, we would read textbooks full of facts that will help us answer the questions needed.
Once we knew enough about tectonic plates, we started making a basic idea of what our game would be about. We made our first draft of our game and handed it in. We ended up changing a bunch of the rules because it was getting really confusing. We got to get partners for this project, and I luckily got to work with Brooke. She has a blog as well! Click here to check it out.
As a class, our teacher Mr. Harris showed us how to include probability in our games, and how probability is used in regular things like rolling a die or pulling cards for a deck. We got to check out other games like Risk, and try an pin point where probability is used in the game. Probability uses a lot of mathematical equations, so we got to practice our multiplying and dividing fraction skills before we actually got to calculate probability in our game.
The next step was choosing 10 vocabulary words to include in our game! We chose the words earthquake, epicentre, focus, continental drift, hot spring, convergent plate boundary, volcanic eruption, divergent plate boundary, ring of fire, and tectonic plate. We had to include every one of those in our game in some way, wether it was cards, drawings, or dice!
Once we had a solid plan, we got to start building our game! Check out our game rules here:
Brooke and I thought it would be efficient to each have a role, so we could get things done a bit faster than if we just tried to do it all at once. We went to the dollar store and got a bunch of materials to build our game. While Brooke was building things, I was writing on cards. The funny thing is though, we didn’t even use the cards or the buildings. We ended up just drawing everything 2d, instead of 3d. We spent a lot of days in class just making a board game that had lots of probability, tectonic plate facts and and intriguing plan. After a lot of test runs, we finally did our peer critique! We went around playing other peoples games, and marking up their rubric. They also did ours. We had to do two people each, while one partner plays and the other partner hosts the game. I thought it was really fun. A few days later Mr. Gross’ class and our class came together to play each classes games. It was really cool to see others games, and how each game was different.
If I could go back and change something while doing this project, it would have been to take my time and not rush into making the game. I felt that a lot of peoples games were a lot more entertaining to play, and that theirs had a lot more time put in it. Don’t get me wrong, I really like how our game turned out, but I feel like we should’ve slowed down a bit, and made it less rushed.
Here are my Curricular Competences! The one on the top is the Curricular Competency, and the one on the bottom is how I think I did.
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Core competency #1
Evaluating: Demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of evidence.
I feel I did okay on this competency because I didn’t include all of the vocabulary words I was supposed too. I was still able to include 7-8/10 of the words though. The theory of plate tectonics is the central theme of the game, and the drawings and cards mostly represents that.
Core competencies #2
Questioning and predicting: Demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest.
I feel I did well on this competency because I used all of my class time effectively even when my partner was away. I was able to do research on the topics of plate tectonics to prepare myself for the main game. I was able to ask questions and communicate with the people around me to learn and problem solve.
Core competency #3
Understanding and solving: Develop, demonstrate, and apply mathematical understanding through play, inquiry, and problem solving.
I think I did good for this curricular Competency because I was able to incorporate more than one form of probability in our game. We included two written probability equations in our game rules as well. I feel that we could’ve come up with more examples though.
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How are thematic and mathematical elements used in game design? When creating a game, your game develops using a theme, and you have to work up from that theme. When we created our games we used the theme ‘Tectonic plates’ to build up from. That was our base, but then we had to include other parts of Tectonic plates like Continental drift and volcanos. Mathematical elements are used in almost all games. It includes rolling a die, drawing cards, guessing a number etc. This type of math is probability.
👍!