My board game for scimatics class

Hey there, welcome to to my blog! During this past month we have been working on a project in scimatics called tectonic chances, we were put into partners and we had to work together to come up with a board game that had to include ten key science concepts. We were given the option to choose a board game, card game or basically anything we wanted as long as we could still play it and it included all the necessary criteria and curricular competencies. We also had to answer a driving question for this whole project, which you will see down below.

The big idea/driving question of this project:

How are thematic and mathematical elements used in game design?

In my board game Plates and Matter, I learnt how to use thematic and mathematical elements in the following ways. I learnt how to use thematic elements by consistently applying plate tectonic concepts and language in my board game. I learnt how to use mathematical elements by involving probability into my board game and game rules. Overall I improved my understanding of the big idea by using all of these elements together.

Evaluating: demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of evidence 

In this project I showed my ability to demonstrate the evaluating competency by using ten key science concepts and visual representations of plate tectonics. In my game I made sure to represent different parts or plate tectonics, like the layers of earth, and different outcomes of plate movements like tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanos. I also made sure to include ten key science concepts and vocabulary to do with plate tectonics in my rules. This is how I showed my evaluation competency.

Questioning and predicting: demonstrate a sustained intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem of personal interest

For the questioning and predicting competency I demonstrated my personal interest through extra research at home so I could gain a stronger knowledge of plate tectonics. I did this by consulting with my geologist Dad and asking him extra questions about the earths structure. This gave me a better understanding of the project and helped as a whole, and helped me complete my game better.

Understanding and solving: develop, demonstrate, and apply mathematical understanding through play, inquiry, and problem solving

In this project I showed the understanding and solving competency through using several probability outcomes throughout our board game. I did this by using dice and cards to create different probability outcomes which we then implemented into our rules. We then showed the probability of pulling different cards in our game and the probability of different dice rolls. The one thing I wish I could’ve fixed is simplifying the answers to all of the probability questions.

My mind map

At the start of this project we also made a mind map which we wrote down our questions about tectonic plates. At the end of this project we answered the questions that we could answer after learning about it for a month. This is my mind map that I made. That’s it for this post, thanks for reading!