I had a long dream this morning about that novel for girls I'd been working on and wanting to aim at teaching math. I dreamed that the book should be a website that is game-based with math as the positive reinforcement, which led me to think I need to get a math book that is used in middle school. No idea what they learn at that point in time, these days. I also imagined an arc of the story going from Areya's homeland to Mastery (I should have written something about this sooner, damn), with side quests to reinforce math skills with problems to solve as positive reinforcement. Also, using the interwebs as a built in means for getting help/answers to problems, as a method for encouraging this approach to problem-solving, like programmers do. So, I imagined basically, a straight line from her home to the big city of Mastery (referring to mastery of mathematics) with cross-pieces that are side quests that reinforce skills by solving math problems and requiring use of the interwebs to find the answer to how to do math problems. This is pretty lame, compared to whatever it was I thought this morning. :-( The title Areya Comes to the Great City of Mastery or something like that was something clever I'd literally dreamed up. I was motivated by reviewing Elizabeth's website yesterday, which had some nice stuff that she's worked on. She gets a card from one of the visitors with a number on it, which will be used to solve some problems later on in the game (e.g. is it a prime number, is it odd, what properties do numbers actually have, what are they good for, what can't they do, and so on, and it will be the answer to some puzzle or other when I get further into the game design).
Extra points for exploring side quests and doing extra problems
Extra points for adding story to the game, if there's a place for it (what do you imagine happened so that the golden sarcophagus ended up here under the mountain?)
Physical support materials – card with number on it (or many), paperback math book that is the basis for the problems, set up call back from Areya on cell phone, per Cathy's Book, mail card(s) to people who sign up for them for an extra fee?
Reinforcement of why math is important to know (money, success, choices due to success/money, and it can be fun, engineers build the world)
In-game options to choose the right answer to push the game forward (yes/no buttons in dungeons that open new areas)
In-game benefits of learning to use a calculator thoroughly
Problem solving using boolean algebra (the kind with venn diagrams), which may be a basic skill in learning to program later on
Link to Stanford remedial math class for access to additional content (cool pictures of kitties with great ear tufts reinforcement → https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&hs=yUt&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&q=caracal&revid=1236013464&biw=1366&bih=636&dpr=1 )
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSTMml7uJc2Ca2rDA_jkc3d6zIul2fS_HclolSJkij0x7SvwNxw
Map of the city of Mastery, based on a city map, but containing quadrants based on the level of math the girl is learning with links to relevant content and quests related to subject matter
Bought middle school math book
http://www.sdsc.edu/~woodka/Chapter1.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/~woodka/Chapter2.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/~woodka/Chapter3.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/~woodka/Chapter4.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/~woodka/Chapter5.html
http://www.sdsc.edu/~woodka/Chapter6.html
9/30/13
Received Danica McKellar's book, Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail today. She, the author, has a theorem named after her! Who knew a tv bimbo could also be a physics whiz!
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