Stranger than Fictiion

Link to Teacher's Guide / Ron Mastine

Introduction

The world holds many mysterious and bizarre secrets for you to learn about.

Can you match the missing information in these incredible facts?

The height of the _______________varies by as much as six inches, depending on the temperature.	1. giraffe
The annual harvest of an entire coffee tree is required to make one pound of ground _______________.	2. spiders
A _______________breathes only 10 times per hour while hibernating. An active _______________breathes 2,100 times per hour.	3. mosquito
In any given acre of green land, you would expect to find about 50,000_______________.	4. coffee
A _______________has 47 teeth.	5. woodchuck
When diving, the _______________ can reach a speed of 225 miles per hour.	6. baboons
The heart of a _______________weighs 25 pounds, is two feet long, and has walls 3 inches thick.	7. Eiffel Tower
In ancient Egypt, certain _______________were mummified when they died.	8. peregrine falcon
The ancient Romans were fond of eating ________.	9. mice

Things are often so strange in reality that we might as well have fun with them so ...let’s explore?

Task

Your task will be to investigate strange and interesting facts, and use them to create a Stranger than Fiction game that you can share with classmates.

Process: leading to a Product that responds to the Task

You will visit some Internet sites that specialize in the strange and bizarre where you will select a variety of facts (TRIVIA) that you find interesting. You will take note of the most interesting and use them in a skill-testing game you create.

You will use these facts to make a simple game of ...Stranger then Fiction using the concept of the Snakes and Ladders game or some other model you might feel like borrowing or creating. The original Snakes and Ladders game doesn’t have questions but you will add stations or conditions that will integrate the use of the questions to permit the players to advance or gain bonus points, etc – you decide!

Check out the game model Snakes and Ladders .

You can use it or this document to collect your strange facts. You may also modify the game board or create your own, if time permits.

Choosing a theme: – sports – animals – history – famous scientists - super stars - etc could also make the game more interesting.

Here are some sites to visit to collect the questions:

1. Visit the Guinness World Records - the global authority on record-breaking achievement http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/index.asp

Choose a theme ( Body, Feats, Nature, ...) that interests you and find really bizarre/strange/interesting records to record and report back

( Use MS Word or another Word processor to collect and save your information)

2. This Day in History

1. http://www.scopesys.com/today/

2. http://www.historychannel.com/today/

and on your BIRTHDAY? Anything bizarre/strange/interesting happen on that date?

3. Check out some weird and amazing facts here

1. http://shwetanshu.tripod.com/s2.html

2. http://www.wackyuses.com/weird.html

3. http://www.funs.co.uk/factindex.html

Here is the Snakes and Ladders model you may use and a document formatted to print out your Facts - .

Remember have only a couple of classes to complete the game.

Steps to complete your game using the facts you found.

1. Collect the facts (theme?)

2. Adapt the board

3. Create the <Fact Cards> - ( possible formats for the cards include:

Fact	answer
A _______________has 47 teeth.	mosquito

Fact	answer
How many teeth does a mosquito have?	47

4. Instructions/Rules:

who begins,

how to move, (use dice, spinner or other way to move)

when to take a card,

who wins, (exact number), etc.

5. Print and present your game in class.

Remember - Keep it educational and keep it fun.

Conclusion

Learning can be fun, right? How else can we make learning fun and interesting? Discuss the question with classmates and make a list of suggestions.

Evaluation

Project Rubric

Criteria Level	Insufficient	Acceptable (60 – 75)	Well-done (76 – 95)	Excellent (95-100)
Game board shows effort and creativity	Absence of or near absence of…	Evidence of some…	Several elements in support of …	Thorough, insightful, complete, …
Effective participation in discussion
Instructions include a series of pertinent items
Fact cards are factually and linguistically appropriate.