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Students review the importance and need for coordinates in the context of a video game and brainstorm a game of their own.

Prerequisites

None

Relevant Standards

Select one or more standards from the menu on the left (⌘-click on Mac, Ctrl-click elsewhere).

Common Core State Statements
MP.2

Reason abstractly and quantitatively

Older Statements
BS-M

The student models a problem in context and determines the data needed to describe the problem

Lesson Goals

Students will be able to:

  • Explain the need for coordinates in a given situation.

  • Estimate coordinates in a bounded area.

Student-Facing Lesson Goals

  • I can estimate the positions of objects using coordinates.

  • I can collaborate with a partner to brainstorm a video game.

  • I can create a sample mock-up (proof of concept) of my video game.

Materials

Preparation

  • Make sure all materials have been gathered

  • Decide how students will be grouped in pairs

Supplemental Resources

Key Points for the Facilitator

  • The launch activity should create and reinforce the need for coordinates and to attend to precision.

  • Continue to use the same "Estimation" handout so students can track their pattern of estimation over time.
Glossary
coordinate

a number or set of numbers describing an object’s location

Warmup

Students should be logged into WeScheme and have their workbooks with a pen or pencil.

Navigating a Grid 20 minutes

Overview

Students are asked to come up with a way of identifying location on a grid, which provides the justification for coordinates.

Launch

Let’s look at a game of "Hit or Miss." Have students Notice and Wonder about the Grid image below.

Notice and Wonder Ask students to write down what they Notice and Wonder about this game on Page 6.

Investigate

  • How would you describe where the "hits" are?

  • How would you describe where the "misses" are?

  • Where would you guess next to get a "hit"?

Hit or Miss

Hit or Miss Hit or Miss🖼Show image

As students discuss, let them reach the consensus themselves about the need for coordinates!

Synthesize

  • What can help us be more precise in playing "Hit or Miss"? A system for describing exactly where we want to go, like coordinates!

  • How do you think this concept relates to a videogame? Answers vary: we need to know where characters are on the screen, we need a way for players to interact with certain parts of the screen, etc

Bridging to Videogames 30 minutes

Overview

Students explore a coordinate activity in which a cartesian point is used to compute the position of a character in a game. From there, they brainstorm a game of their own.

Launch

In pairs, have students explore the Ninja Cat Desmos graph.

Notice and Wonder As one partner explores the graph, the other student will write down what they Notice on Page 6.

As one partner explores the graph, the other student will write down what they Wonder.

To develop an intuition for coordinates, have students complete Estimating Coordinates (Page 7).

Investigate

  • Students complete the Brainstorm Your Own Game worksheet and decide on a Player, Target, Danger, and Background for their game.

  • Students will use a Google Draw template (click "Make a copy" when prompted) to create a sample "screenshot" of their game by inserting images via Google Search.

Screenshot should include:

  • Labeled estimates of coordinates for each character.

  • 2 characters that have the same x-coordinate.

  • 2 different characters that have the same y-coordinate.

Synthesize

  • When the "Game Over" screen is supposed to be off screen, what coordinates might hide it?

  • What would be the coordinate of the dog before it gets onscreen?

  • Why do we estimate? Practice number sense, get better at working with numbers

  • What constitutes a good estimate?

  • How can we improve our estimation skills? Practice, get more comfortable with numbers and more comfortable with making guesses

These materials were developed partly through support of the National Science Foundation, (awards 1042210, 1535276, 1648684, and 1738598). CCbadge BS:Games by Jen Poole, Emmanuel Schanzer, Ed Campos Jr, and Dorai Sitaram is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 Unported License. Based on a work at www.BootstrapWorld.org. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by contacting schanzer@BootstrapWorld.org.