Educator Resources for Refraction
The goal of the Refraction game is to split laser beams and power spaceships carrying various animals who have gotten stuck in space. These animal spaceships require different fractions of the lasers. Students are given several pieces that split and bend the lasers to reach the animals and satisfy the requirements. Through this game play, students practice skills such as equal partitioning, addition, multiplication, mixed numbers, improper fractions, and common denominators. The game contains over 6 hours of unique challenges that are specifically created for each new learner to provide a customized learning experience.
For more teacher resources, visit Center for Game Science
Refraction Game Lesson Plan: Teaching Fractions Through Gameplay
Grades: 3-8
In this lesson plan, which is adaptable for grades 3-8, students use BrainPOP resources to make real-world, cross-curricular connections between math and science concepts. Students explore light refraction through online game play and an experiment.
Common Core State Standards Alignment:
4th Grade
CCSS.Math.Cont.4.NF.B.3a Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole.
5th Grade
CCSS.Math.Cont.5.NF.B.5b Explaining why multiplying a given number by a fraction greater than 1 results in a product greater than the given number (recognizing multiplication by whole numbers greater than 1 as a familiar case); explaining why multiplying a given number by a fraction less than 1 results in a product smaller than the given number; and relating the principle of fraction equivalence a/b = (n_a)/(n_b) to the effect of multiplying a/b by 1.
7th Grade
CCSS.Math.Cont.7.NS.A.3 Solve real-world and mathematical problems involving the four operations with rational numbers.
