The perils of displeasing an island…. Crypto Coordinates Plotting Adventure, a new math mission in Quest Atlantis
Cartography, coordinate plotting, and the ethical tensions of archeology combine in our new math mission in Quest Atlantis. Questers receive a message in a bottle, calling for help. Furious at having a team of archeologists investigate its secrets, the island takes revenge by trapping the director of the dig, Dr. Leo. With an assistant too concerned with the rule book to take action, the quester must step into the jungle to save the well-intentioned, yet adventurous, Dr. Leo. Of course, the island will resist an outsider’s presence, so the Questers have quite a challenge on their hands.
Introductory "Message in a Bottle"
In commencing their mission, Questers are faced with a series of tests from the island’s inhabitants to see if the Quester is interested in anything beyond her own mission. First, the quester must prove their worthiness and mathematical talent to Ivo (a very intimidating) boar. Then, they must make their way to the cave of The Grand Wise One, who will decide whether the quester may continue. The problem is two-fold—traveling along the jungle path, with perils hidden at every turn, and earning the respect of the island so that it will choose to reveal Dr. Leo’s whereabouts. In helping the island’s inhabitants solve problems that they face, questers begin to earn the trust of the island. However, a punishment awaits if they wander from the island’s endorsed path. The tests don’t stop there; questers are also faced with the dilemma of retrieving artifacts that may be destroyed or displayed for the world to see, or to leave artifacts in their place, letting the island keep its secrets.
Map of Cryptojungle
Throughout the mission, Questers learn about the coordinate graphing system and its conventions, and practice skills such as placing and locating points on the graph, translating two-dimensional directions into three-dimensional movements, and being able to describe routes to others by using the standard conventions of graphing. At the end of the Mission, students are faced with the ultimate choice: Enter a secret location of the island to save Dr. Leo (and keep the island’s secrets), or pursue their own fame and insatiable curiosity by dissecting the island artifacts with Archie. The choice, ultimately, is the Quester’s—although they are also the ones who have to face the consequences of their choices.
The Grand Wise One and Ivo the Boar
Bravo Melissa this sounds fantastic and loads of fun. There certainly has been a demand for more math in QA and this will really whet the appetite of teachers and students around the world. Can you tell us what more might be in the pipeline to excite those coming to QA from a math perspective?
I’ve been through this mission and thought it was great. Don’t want to embarrass myself too much by telling you how long it took for me to “slide” the owl’s picture…but it has something to do with reading instructions carefully! lol Well done QA!
My students cheers loudly when I told them that there was a QA mission available for the Cartesian Plane part of their math. Some will also get to do the Anders City unit. I believe there is a Math2 world being worked on right now. Anyone care to spill the beans on how soon that will be available and/or what math curriculum will be covered? Gord
I am glad to hear that people are enjoying the new mission so far! We will be working with a local classroom this week to learn more about what kids are thinking–I will update everyone with some interesting quotes, I am sure! In terms of the future of math missions, we are in the midst of developing two additional missions that focus on complex trip planning and understanding of ratio. Hopefully they will both be released by the end of the month. If anyone has suggestions for math missions that they would like to see designed, don’t hesitate to share them–we are always looking for inspiration!
The Crypto Jungle activity was a great activity for my students to reinforce the graphing on the coordinate plane. Recently we were reviewing coordinate pairs and a student said, I don’t remember how to do this. I asked a few questions and thought I was going to need to reteach it, then I said “remember crypto jungle?” The student responded that now they remembered what to do. Having the visual activity really embeds that understanding, we just need to help students make the connections.