Waffle Bytes

Carmen Sandiego is back - have your students use Google Earth to learn a bit of geography while chasing her down for the Crown Jewels!  Then have them research cities, landmarks and airports and create their own version of the game. You can find the game 2 ways - if you go to Google Maps, a message will appear asking if you want to Catch Carmen Sandiego - If you go straight to Google Earth, there is a new red button to begin the game - First you will get a splash screen - When you start the game, you get your assignment - Then move into a split screen with Google Earth on the left, and the game elements on the right - Gathering information, you then "fly" to the next city based on the clues - Nostalgic for some, but it can still be a great way to introduce kids to some cities and landmarks they may have never heard of.

If you want to give your students a moderated experience in an alternate reality game, you should check out The Tessera . From the creators' Educator's Guide : "Tessera: Light in the Dark is an online game where players use real world media and skills to interact with the fictional world of the Tessera, working together to unravel the mystery of a haunted Victorian-era tavern." The focus of the game is on students learning about and using computational thinking.  It has been tied to the Next Generation Science Standards, and easily fits into the STEM/STEAM curriculum.  While there is a live game happening from January to March/April, they are designing a version that is more adapted to the classroom -  "The replayable version will have around 10 sessions or modules that include lesson plans/activities, each of which can be accomplished in approximately 30 minutes. Players will be able to explore the website and related materials above and beyond this a...

My previous two posts have been about setting up and creating modifications to an awesome template created by Flippity .  Today I'll walk through game play. To play, you need to use the link that was created after you Published your spreadsheet - This will open your customized Game Show in a new window - When teams (or you) select a category and value, click on the corresponding box to see the question- When a team gives an answer you can either subtract or add the points to their total using the X and √ under the team name in their corresponding boxes on the left side- Clicking on the question will then display the answer- Clicking on the answer will then take you back to the game board-if a team got the questions correct the box is highlighted in that team's color- Continue play until you run out of questions or time!

Yesterday I shared how to set up a Game Show from Flippity's template (and work into scripting!).  Today's post is about other modifications that can be made to your game - There are a few modifications that can be made. 1. If you want to set up fewer questions, you can put a capital X in for a category name (row 2) to exclude that column- 2. Likewise, if you use a capital X in a question box in the first category (this would be column B) it will eliminate that value for all categories. In my example, I put an X in for the question in cell B7 to eliminate the 300 value questions. 3. You can add an image - with or without text - to a question or answer by using [[Image:URL_for_image]] (note the capital I for Image)  4. You can add a video by using [[YouTube_Share_URL]] - 5. When in play mode, you can change team names by clicking on the name - 6. Again in play mode, change the number of teams by using the + and - sign under the team list- It does r...

I am often asked about the availability of templates or ways to run trivia game show type activities in the classroom with custom questions.  This last week I was exposed to a new one that is definitely worth sharing as it meets all four criteria I consider important: Is it affordable?  Yup! It's free to use Is it easy to set up? Yes, it took me about 15 minutes...you could probably do it faster if you already knew your questions. Is it easy to use? Yes, very easy. Is it flexible?  Yes, it has several features that make it flexible to your particular needs/wants. So, this post I'm going to share how to access it and set it up.  My next post I am going to share how to use and modify it once set up. 1. To begin, you need to go to Flippity.net to access the file to copy.  Find the line "Make a copy of this template . (You'll need to sign-in with your Google account.)" and click on the link.  Make sure you are logged into the Google Account you wa...