After the AP Exam Juniors Complete Their Board Game Project

After the AP Exam, the juniors in the class spent a the first two weeks reviewing for the NY Regents Living Environment exam. Over the last week and a half they have been working on the Game Board project.

Fourth Quarter First Project Newsletter 2011

Erin and Caitlin developed "BIOLAND" for their board game as a way to review ecology. Their game board layout is reminiscent of the childhood classic Candyland.

Instructions

1. Select your playing piece and place him or her on the starting space.
2. Choose the order of play. Some people like to decide using "Rock, Paper, Scissors," while other roll a die.
3. Each player rolls the die when it is their turn and proceed the number of spaces indicated by their role.
4. Whatever color the player lands on, they take a card of the top of that color's pile.
5. The card will have a question pertaining to ecology. Answering correctly is rewarded with advancing a space forward. Answering incorrectly is penalized by moving a space back.
6. If a player lands on a space containing a dot, they forfeit a turn.
7. Play ends when one player makes it to the finish line at the end of the board.

David, Robbie, and Joey developed the "EVOLUTION CHALLENGE" in which each player represents a species and their goal is to survive.

Instructions

1. The point of the game is to move your species across the board as it's evolutionary changes bring both benefits and harm.
2. Player rolls the dice.
3. On an even roll, draw an even evolution card; on an odd roll draw an odd evolution card. Follow the directions on your card and return it to the bottom of the pile.
4. If you land on a "Bonus Space" you must draw a bonus question card. If you answer the question correctly, your species will advance according to the card. If you answer incorrectly, your species will be set back the number of spaces according to the card.

 
Bryana, Catherine and Katerine developed the "Ribosome Race" whose play is similar to the game "Sorry!"

Instructions

1. The object of "Ribosome Race" is to move all the game pieces around the cell nucleus and return to their original ribosome. 
2. A player is complete when all of their scientists (game pieces) have returned to their original ribosome.
3.  All pieces must move around the nucleus in a counter clockwise direction, following the game board arrows.
4. Play begins when players roll the die to determine the order of their play (highest roll goes first.
5. On the roll of the die, the player progresses the number of spaces indicated on the die and follows the directions on the space where they land.
6. If they land on a question space they must answer the question correctly to remain in their position, an incorrect answer returns them to their position before the roll of the die.
7. The first player to return all their pieces to their ribosome is the winner.

Margaret, Paige and Shea based their game on "Twister". Their modification requires a biological question to be answered before the indicated move can be taken.

Senior Projects After AP Exam

Upon completion of the AP examination, the seniors in the course had a number of options for a project to be completed before "senior week" festivities. The seniors could choose to "shadow" a professional to learn what it is like to become a member of the "work force". They could volunteer their time working with the elementary school science specialist. This year helped the second graders with their Space Science Unit. The last option was to produce a board game that would teach/explain, through its play, a topic covered in the course this year.
Fourth Quarter First Project Newsletter 2011


The AP students, who chose to work with Mrs. Monaco's class, describe their experiences.

AP Biology Elementary School Helpers 2011

Brad and Sarah created the game "Biopoly" with a board based on the Parker Brothers game, Monopoly.

Instructions

1. Every player starts with 120 cells.
2. One only stays in the hospital for three turns.
3. You do not have to pay cells if you land on an organ owned by someone else.
4. If you lose all your cells, you LOSE!!
5. Only one roll of dice per turn.
6. Only four players can play at any one time.
7. If you roll an even number and land on a vacant space, then you must answer a question correctly to buy the spot, If you roll and odd number it doesn't matter
8. If you want to sell your organ but no one wants to buy it, the mortgage will be 10 cells less than you bought it for. If the organ is worth 10 cells, then you will get nothing for it.
9. If everyone wishes to end play, then the player with the most cells after mortgages are taken into account will be the winner.

 Ally and Lizzi designed the original game "Digestive Diversion"

The purpose of their game focused testing the game player's knowledge of the systems of the human body. Their question cards quizzed players on important factoids about the immune, excretory, digestive, and reproductive systems. As few as two players to as many as 6 players may play.

The game starts in the oral cavity and players proceed through the system by correctly answering random questions on the systems.

Instructions

1.  Shuffle the question cards and the exclamation cards separately and place them on the designated spaces on the game board.
2. Each player picks a playing piece.
3. The youngest player goes first.
4. The person to the left of the player picks the top question card and reads it to the player.
5. The player answers the question. If answered correctly, the player moves the number of spaces indicated on the question card.
6. If answered incorrectly the player does not move.
7. If the player answers correctly, moves, and lands on a "!", they pick an exclamation mark card and follow the instructions on that card.
8. The next youngest player goes and follows the same steps.
9. The first player to make it through the digestive system wins.

Renato created the "Ecoventure: Deluxe Edition" game to reinforce/review learning related to Ecology.

Instructions

1. Each player gets a  game piece with a number, they then roll the dice in number order.
2. The object of the game is to be the first player to reach the end of the board.
3. Before each turn the player draws a question card and attempts to answer the question; a correct answer gives the player the right to roll the dice for movement.
4. Incorrect answers results in a movement of only one (1) space. Other players may answer a missed question for a gain of one (1) space.
5. If a player lands on a "Challenge Space", they have the option to draw another question; if answered correctly the player may move the same number of spaces as the dice role which resulted on landing on the "Challenge Space".
6. Answering a "Challenge Space" question incorrectly results in losing double (2x) the spaces gained by their original dice roll.
7. Challenge questions cannot be answered by other players in the game.

 

Jane created the game "Bio-Dome", which refers to the movie of the same name starring Billy Baldwin and Paulie Shore.

Object of Bio-Dome

The object of Bio-Dome is to travel through the Bio-Dome along the colored squares. The Moves are made according to the numbered cards that the players draw. The player who has accumulated the highest number of points after they cross the "FINISH" line is the winner.

Instructions

1. Shuffle the numbered cards well and place them on the square marked "#". The youngest play should go first.
2. Each player chooses a playing piece. All players begin the game on the square marked "START" and travel along the path of squares. The player moves foward on the path by the number of squares that is printed on the "#" card drawn.
3. When a player lands on a square, they must pick up a card from the top of the pile marked "QUESTIONS" and proceeds to answer the question. Correct answers earn a point.
4. If and when the "Chaos Theory" card is drawn, the player who has drawn the card waits until the reach the "Chaos Bridge". Once there they are to pick up the deck of cards marked "CHAOS THEORY (Ct)" and scatter them onto the table. All the players are now eligible to attempt to pick up as manner cards as possible, Each card picked has a point value and these points are added to the players score.
5. If all the cards are used and the game has not finished, the cards are reshuffled and put back into their proper piles.

 

Winning the Game

When all players cross the "FINISH" line, the game is over. The player with the most points accumulated is the winner!.

Tony and Ryan created the game "Cell Life", which is based on "cellular" forms of life. The rules of their game are as follows:

John created the game "Waterfall" to reinforce the chemical properties of water and their importance to life.