Find the Panda
Professor Peabody is helping to preserve pandas, an endangered species. Pandas are very good at hiding. When Professor Peabody first found his panda he put a radio collar on it. That way he is able to locate the panda to give it a yearly health checkup.
The object of this game is to help Professor Peabody find the panda as quickly as possible. You will use the information from the radio collar, given in front and right coordinates. This is a game for two players.
Materials
- Panda's Game Board in the Student Activity Book
- Helper's Game Board in the Student Activity Book
Directions
- One player is the panda. The other player is Professor Peabody's helper.
- The player who is the panda chooses a location, marks it on his or her game board, and records it in the location table. The player must keep this location a secret.
- The other player helps Professor Peabody find the panda by guessing its coordinates. This player and the panda plot each of the helper's guesses on his or her own game board and location table.
- After each guess the panda gives directions to help Professor Peabody's helper make a better guess that will get him or her closer to the panda. For example, the panda may say, “Go right and back.”
An example of the beginning of this game is below.
Chris is the panda. He chooses 3 right, 12 front (3, 12) as his location. Julia, one of Professor Peabody's helpers, guesses 7 right, 8 front (7, 8). Julia records the guess on her game board and location table.
Chris records the guess on his game board, too. He sees that Julia must go left and front to reach the panda. So he says, “Go left and front.”
Julia guesses again. This time she guesses 3 right, 8 front (3, 8). Here is Julia's game board. It shows both of her guesses.
- Is Julia's second guess a good guess? How did you decide?
- Chris says, “Now go front.” Why does he say this?
- If you were playing the game and did not know where the panda was, what would be your next guess?