Settlers' educational content
Full details of curriculum coverage are given in the teacher's notes for each activity.
Activity 1 is aimed at levels 4 and 5 at KS3.
Students need to be able to calculate a rational fraction of, decimal fraction of and percentage of a given amount of each of three resources and enter the correct values in three out of six boxes.
Some of this can be done mentally, as well as using shortcuts, such as being able to recognize that 0.125 of 8,000 litres is the same as one-eighth. This should be encouraged or could be practised beforehand.
Activity 2 is aimed at level 4 at KS3.
This is a straightforward exchange rate calculation involving up to three calculations for each of the questions. The students are presented with a quantity of a resource they need to buy and three countries which supply the resource. They need to determine which country to order from, and how many shipments are required, by converting the local currency prices per unit to pounds (GBP). A ready-reckoner is also available if you want to use this for Ma1 checking answers and/or helping with estimating.
Activity 3 is aimed at level s 5 and 6 at KS3.
There are three stages to this activity. All of the stages require students to enter the coordinates where resources are located on the planet Mars, based on information provided by up to three radar stations. The first stage is seemingly easy, since it requires only the counting of edges to locate the resource, but the placement of the radar stations can provide a large number of possible locations, so students should be encouraged to use some kind of strategy to identify the locations.
The second stage is based on bearings from the radar stations and students are provided with a 360° protractor, if they want to use it. The protractor can be used before all three of the radar stations are placed and, in some instances, students may be able to find the location of resources without having to use all three of the stations.
The third stage is based on distance from the radar stations and students are provided with a circular 'ruler' if they want to use it. The ruler only extends to 500km, so students will have to use their estimating skills if the radar station returns a value above 500km as the distance of the resource. The ruler can be used before all three of the radar stations are placed and, in some instances, students may be able to find the location of resources without having to use all three of the stations.
