Video Game Success: Making Video Games with Math

Start with Pixel Press Floors

Pixel Press Floors allows you to create your own video game.  In our algebra and algebra 2 units we talk about lines and graphing lines for a solid part of our curriculum.  I wanted students to collaborate and have an ending project that brought a final bang to our unit.

This app allows you to draw on screen (in paper mode) and draw out the different levels of the game. There are a ton of lesson plans and tried and true ideas here: http://www.projectpixelpress.com/education

The Rules for the Project

• Student's need to create at least one level where they have an undefined, positive, negative, and zero slope.  They also need to have at least one other slope that is different from the rest (e.g. y=-3x instead of y=-x.)
• Student's level needs to be playable, you need to be able to get from beginning to end as a player of the game.
• The student's need to take a screen shot of their different levels to show their different slopes and use Desmos to graph each of the different slopes.

Here is an example level:

Students final examples should look something like this:

I want students to have a different final project.  Students will peer assess with others in the room.  Student's will need three other people to play their level and look over their paper they will have to write.  They will have a rubric to fill out about the playability of the game and the features of the game.

How Infographics Boost Math

• 65% of learners are visual learners.
• Looking at and reflecting on data is something all students struggle with.
• Infographics make data easier to understand.

At the beginning of next year I want students take their knowledge and apply it more often.  We normally have a day lesson on classifying rational numbers.  Next year after I give students the lesson they normally have a card sort they do in groups, it is a fun activity and gets them to work together early in the year.

After they are done with the card sort their homework will be to create an infographic.  I will have students download Canva. Canva is a graphic design app that allows students (and teachers) to create presentations, handouts, and other graphics such as infographics.  (I use Canva to create my presentations and handouts for conferences)

Student's will create an infographic on how to classify rational numbers and will be hung up around the room.

Here is an example I made earlier today:

This is a simple mock-up and the rubric for the assessment is yet to come, but having students demonstrate their knowledge in a graphical way will get students on the right path of thinking when it comes to math next year.