Alien invasion
Alien Invasion is a full-scale alien attack that happens when your class is visiting Manford City. As the invasion goes on, there are live TV news bulletins, radio broadcasts and telephone messages that tell you what is happening. To help resist the invasion, you need to find a way out of a series of problems by solving them as the story goes on. You need to discuss the problems and think about them; you also need to think up ideas for solving them!
Crash test
You use computer software to look at the impact of car crashes under different conditions and the effects on a dummy driver. You select a car, a crash point and a speed, then watch an animation of the crash; you see the results on the dummy and collect data about it. There are 3 stages. First you decide what data to collect and what ‘crash packages' you want to test. Then you make the crashes and collect the data. Finally, you explain the results of your tests, making a presentation to share with others.
DigiDesign [Coming soon !]
You are a graphic designer with the job of creating a digital image for a hand-held electronic
device for children 5 to 7 years old. To make the image, you use a web-based drawing tool, based on screen pixels.
You work on your own and in small groups to discuss your designs and make decisions about planning,
designing and testing your product - and then re-designing it. The management sends you ‘memos' from time to time that might make you change your plans!. Finally, you make recommendations about your product and present it.
Explorers
In Explorers, you play various characters who are scratching a living on the very edge of our galaxy
in
2084; they travel around in reclaimed space vessels that are patched up and with pretty useless crew members. You have to find a safe route through a dangerous star system, trade goods between distant planets and use sonic charges to destroy asteroids that are blocking a space highway. You have to compare risks, work with different
currencies – and do some sums! You can work in groups or on your own.
Highway link design
Highway link design
is about planning a by-pass road round a village. You have to think about where it should go as different routes have different effects such as having to demolish some or destroy a wood or other stuff like that. Different routes also have different costs. You work in groups to plan and cost a route by deciding which route you think best takes into account different points of view about the effects. You then present your ideas and check out the ideas of other groups.
How risky is life?
In How Risky is Life?,
you explore the risk of dying unexpectedly from various causes, starting with fears you know about and comparing them with real-life data. You calculate the life risks of doing different things and see how they compare with the risks for typical people of different ages and genders. How risky is life? uses maths thinking to put risks in perspective to show that the real risk is often very different from what you think – and that what you think is often driven by the media, who are usually more interested in their stories than in true information!
In or out?
You look at the evidence from a photograph from a cricket match to try to decide whether a batsman is ‘in' or ‘out'. You have to decide what you need to measure and what assumptions you need to make. Using the evidence, you then work out whether you think the batsman really was IN or OUT? You see if little changes to what you measure and to your assumptions would make any difference to your answer.
Keeping the pizza hot
Home-delivery of pizzas needs the pizza to be delivered quickly, while it is still fairly hot.
You explore how quickly a pizza cools and the differences made by using different packaging materials. You start with the practical problem of how quickly a pizza cools, by plotting the data and drawing cooling curves. The better the insulation packaging, the slower it cools, and so the further the bike can travel without the pizza getting too cold. You explore what is the best for the pizza shop owner and present your results.
Mega bank [Coming soon !]
Mega Bank is an exciting 3D learning-based game in which you use reasoning and various types of investigation to identify the culprit(s) in a daring robbery and murder at Mega Bank. First you gather information by examining the crime scene, identifying the main characters and working out what you don't know. Then you have to eliminate irrelevant information and work out the methods you need to test and analyse samples, using forensic testing and maths to assess the evidence. At the end, you have to reach conclusions and explain them.
My music
Using your favourite music tracks, you work in small groups to listen to different tracks, taking measurements of their beat (tempo). You look at the similarities and differences between types of track, looking first at speed (tempo) and then other variables such as track length, highest position or number of weeks in the charts, and album sales. You explore these measures to see what conclusions you can make about them and then you present and justify your conclusions. You can also look at trends over a few years.
Mystery tours
You are the Tour Manager of a struggling, cartoon-based tour operator. You have to plan a three day trip for a group of tourists around the UK, using tools and data in the software. The group has three types of tourists in it: ‘Nature Lovers', ‘Thrill Seekers' and ‘Culture Vultures'; each type has different preferences. You work on your own or in small groups, to design a successful trip for the whole group. After the planning, you lead the tour; the tourists are quite demanding, and you have to keep them happy by solving problems on the way. Finally, you write an evaluation about the tour.
Outbreak
There has been an outbreak of a fatal virus. You are a scientist trying to stop the spread of the disease. Working
on your own or in groups, you have to develop three parts of a plan. You need a way to help find the infected
people;
you also have to create an antidote and then you have to plan a vaccination programme to reduce any further spread of the virus. You have different experts to help you.
When you complete any one of the parts of the plan,
this unlocks a code for the Map Room.
PointZero
This is an adventure-driven puzzle game based around survival, escape and the search for the truth. You
are one of three lead characters who awake trapped in strange and different locations in an unfamiliar urban
environment, following some form of catastrophe. Each character has to overcome problems to gain access to
the ‘PointZero' Building.
Between them, they have to find the way out of a high rise building, escape from a complex underground network and work out how to deactivate a museum security system.
Product wars
You are part of a drinks company and work with other employees to research and design a new range of the ‘smoothie' drinks. The Managing Director of the company, Brad King, asks you to collect and analyse market research information, create some smoothies by mixing the ingredients in different quantities to get the right nutritional value and taste for your target customers; and then design suitable packaging. As you go along, you get messages from other members of the product team and video messages from Brad King himself.
Reducing road accidents
You live in a small town where there have been a large number of road accidents. The town council has set up an enquiry to see how to improve things and has £100,000 to spend on reducing the number of accidents. Either on your own or in small groups, you plan the most effective way to spend the money by choosing from a range, for example, you could choose to build new road crossings or roundabouts, install traffic lights or design publicity campaigns for specific groups of people. The police have provided data on all the accidents and you use a computer program to analyse this data to support the case for your proposed solution.
Save a baby kangaroo
You have just found a young orphaned kangaroo; it is only twelve centimetres long and weighs sixty grams. Different species of kangaroo have different food needs at different stages of their growth. There is a range of data about several different types of kangaroo, provided in video clips, photographs and tables. You use the data to identify which type of kangaroo you have found and develop a suitable feeding programme to save the life of your own ‘Joey'. Finally you make a poster for a Vet clinic, using what you found, to help someone else save a Joey.
Speed cameras
Do speed cameras help to reduce road accidents or not? Even the experts are divided. It is difficult to draw conclusions because accidents happen at random, which means it is easy to make mistakes with the data. You start by discussing video and newspaper cuttings about speed cameras and examine spreadsheet diagrams about random accidents. You see that a lower chance of accidents does not mean that there will always be fewer accidents during the year. Using the simulations, you find what conclusions you can draw from the information; you then have to support your conclusions – and check out the conclusions of others.
Sundials
Sundials use the sun to tell the time. The lessons help you understand how they work so you can construct one or two for yourself – using your own design. It starts with a video explaining what sundials are, their long history and how they work – in theory and practice. There is an interview with Harriet James, who makes and repairs sundials (a gnomonist). You use symmetry, drawing angles, nets, origami, circle work and comparing data to help you make your own sundial.
Velletri scrolls [Coming soon !]
This is a 3D game. You create your own avatar who tries to understand the meaning of the Velletri scrolls to find the riches of the Emperor Augustus. To succeed, you must collect clues, unravel codes and solve problems. In the first part of the game, you collect evidence and tools that can be used to interpret maps and papers and that might help you to work out problems during the search. In the search, you use the tools you have collected, and a few others, solving problems on the way – but you also have to think to find the riches.
Water availability
You work for an international aid agency which provides water resources to countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Your job is to find a fair way to compare how much water each country has and so decide which one has the greatest need for more water. You need to look at descriptions of the importance of water in the region and you have to collect and compare relevant data. A big task is to decide which data is right to use for a particular question. You then have to reach a conclusion, present it and defend it against other groups.
You reckon?
TV, newspapers - and politicians - are full of claims about how quickly things will be done, how much they will cost and about neat ways to solve difficult problems. Not all these claims are reasonable – but how do you know? You estimate all sorts of unusual quantities, but with only limited information. For example, such as "Is it possible to provide 20% of the diesel used for road transport in the UK by growing crops?" – and lots more. Many of these are real problems, but usually there is not quite enough information – and it often very confused. You sort these things out, by thinking and some simple maths; you then explain your solutions to others.
