Virtual Sojourner
Student Activity #2: Remote Rover Rock Hunt

Level 2--Find the Rock, but Watch Out!

This activity is played between two classrooms--one is the "Site Class" and the other is the "Search Class." The Site places a "rock" (a real one or paper representation) in their classroom and moves a "rover" according to the commands from the Searchers. This version differs from Level 1 by providing the searchers MORE information and additional hazards!

Suggestions for the Site Class

• Follow all suggestions given in Level 1.
  
• Set up a few "hazards" in the classroom, no more than one for each grade level.
  

Constrain the hazard size to the dimensions of the rover.

Leave a navigable path to the rock.

Vary the hazards imaginatively--a "sand pit" slows rover movement to half, a boulder is impassable, a magnetic field garbles communication, etc.

Tell the other class how many hazards and describe them.

• Report rock position relative to the rover with distance and direction (a compass heading). A typical report would be "3.82 meters at 311°"
  
• Tell the Search Class when they encounter a hazard.
  
• Allow one "reset"--the rover is returned to the starting point unharmed.

Suggestions for the Search Class

• Follow all suggestions given in Level 1.
  
• Try to avoid hazards by making short movements.
  
• Be patient!