Post 8: Math Concept Game: Among Us!

 For my math concept game, I was actually given this idea by a substitute teacher at the school I'm student teaching in!

It is called WHO'S THE IMPOSTER? featuring the online game Among Us that I'm sure many young students are familiar with. If you are not familiar with Among Us, essentially it is an online game where you play as 1 of 10 crewmates aboard a spaceship, all responsible for certain tasks. Among the crewmates, there is an imposter, who is trying to take over the spaceship. Through meetings and deliberation, the other crewmates must figure out who the imposter is and kick them off the ship before it's too late. It is up to the imposter to convince the other crewmates that they are innocent. It has become an extremely popular game

For this math concept game, students are asked to solve adding and subtracting fractions equations through several activities and keep track of their findings on their notes sheet seen below 


For the first activity, students must solve a variety of fraction equations to decode special messages based on the tasks the crewmates are doing and where they are on the map (located on the notes page) 


Once they correctly answer each equation, they will then put the corresponding letter on the lines below to decode the messages. The messages are


From these messages, they can then go back to their notes page and keep track of who is not the imposter based on their task or location on the map. After they complete this task, they will then move on to the 2nd task, which is trying to figure out which crewmate is lying. For this task, each crewmate is saying a different equation. It is up to the student to figure out if the equation the crewmates are saying are correct. If they are correct, then those crewmates are not the imposter.


Using this information, students will go back to their notes page and continue keeping track of who cannot possibly be the imposter. After this task is completed, students will then move on to their 3rd and final task, solving word problems. Students will figure out the equations and answers for each given word problem, and then check to see if any of the crewmates are saying a correct answer. For example, if an answer to a word problem is 3/4 and the red crewmate is saying 3/4, then they can't be the imposter. This task can be seen below


After this final task, students will go back to their notes page one last time and see if they have correctly figured out who the imposter is


Blue is the imposter!!

This activity is meant for 4th grade and is a great way to practice adding and subtracting fractions. It is extremely engaging, multi-step, and draws upon students' personal interests (assuming many of the students have played and enjoyed Among Us)
The NYS Next Generation Standard used in this game is 
NY-4.NF Number and Operations—Fractions Build fractions from unit fractions by applying and extending previous understandings of operations of whole numbers: Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and separating parts referring to the same whole. 

I think this is a great fraction game that students will love!









Comments

  1. Jackie BauerMarch 15, 2022 at 1:45 PM

    I absolutely love this game idea! This is a game that is relevant to the students as it is a popular game among the children. This is a game that would not only get the students excited and motivated to learn, but will keep them focused on wanting to complete the worksheet properly so that they can find the imposter correctly. This reinforces concepts that are relevant while keeping the students engaged. Thank you for sharing this as I would love to use something like this in the future!

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  2. John ShanleyMarch 21, 2022 at 8:22 AM

    This is such a great idea! Important math concepts, used in multiple ways, as well as an engaging them with a fun and topical subject. I can only imagine the excitement of my students if they were given this work. It makes sense that a substitute mentioned this idea, as it is something that would be self-sustaining and keep students on task. I wonder if there is any replay value, or would a whole new worksheet have to be created. It seems as if colors and numbers are changed it can be brought back for a "fun Friday" or other reward class period.

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