Running the Game: Rocket and Roll!
Your Mission
Jane Blonde (Agent 009) has been captured by evil, sinister, diabolical agents from M.U.D. (Mean and Unfriendly Doofuses).
In fact, M.U.D. agents have strapped Agent 009 to the side of a rocket, which is loaded with mud, of course. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to free Agent 009 from the rocket. You can do it by playing our interactive and educational game—Rocket and Roll!
As an educator, you can use this game in your classroom to teach students about five subject areas:
- Soil Erosion
- Soil Health
- Stormwater
- Lakes and Rivers
- Worms
Here are some ideas on how to run the game.
How to Play the Game
Rocket and Roll! is quite simple. Students playing the game will find Agent 009 about to be launched into orbit. They will be given multiple-choice questions about soil and water, randomly selected from a pool of more than 75 questions.
For every question that a student answers correctly, one of the ropes holding Agent 009 to the rocket will snap. But for every question that a student answers incorrectly, the rocket will move one step closer to launching.
Answer 7 questions correctly and the mission is accomplished. Agent 009 is free!
Answer 4 questions incorrectly and the mission fails. Agent 009 is launched into space.
The good news is that the students can try again. With more than 75 questions, no game is exactly the same.
How to Run the Game in Class
Students can play the game individually or in teams of two to four (or however many kids can fit around the computer). Here are two different ways to play the game.
The Peeking Version. Whenever the game asks a question, there is an option to click “Find the Answer.” If students click this button, they are whisked to a Top-Secret File, where they can look up the answer to the question. In the beginning, you could let students look up answers as they play—like an open-book test.
With this option, students will not have much trouble winning the game. But they’ll certainly learn. To make this version of the game more difficult, one idea is to time them to see who can win the game the fastest.
The No-Peeking Version. Once students have become familiar with the material, ask them to play the game without looking up the answers. If you’d like, keep track of who has the best scores. (The game monitor displays the number of correct and incorrect answers.)
Training for the Game
The Secret Agent Worm website also features the E.A.R.T.H. Agent Training Program. This training program will help students learn the soil and water material covered in the game, Rocket and Roll!
However, students can play Rocket and Roll! without going through the E.A.R.T.H. Training Program. The training program is optional.