Turtle Rope Swing Game

by John Hayes - Te Puke Primary School

The Turtle Rope Swing Game helps students to learn about angles and how to work out their sizes. It was inspired by the Mathematical Merry-Go-Round Game, decribed by Ron Tzur and Matthew Clark in “Riding the Mathematical Merry-Go-Round”, Teaching Children Mathematics, Volume 12, number 2 (April 2006): 388 - 393. The game was developed by John Hayes, principal at Te Puke Primary School in Te Puke, New Zealand.

This project illustrates

• angles and degrees
• estimation
• interaction

SwingGame.lgo

TO MAIN
	CT DRAW
	MAKE "SCORE 0
	PR "|This is the Turtle Rope Swing Game. It was created by John Hayes in 2006.|
	PR "|The lowest total score wins.|
	PR "|By playing the game you will learn about angles and how to work out their sizes.|
	PR "|If you have not played this game before or you want to see the demo, press D.|
	PR "|If you want to skip the demo and start straight away, press S.|
	PR "|If you want to find out about the game that inspired this one, press F.|
	MAKE "WHICH RC
	IF :WHICH = "D DEMO
	IF :WHICH = "S ANGLE 1
	IF :WHICH = "F CT FIND.OUT
END
 
TO FIND.OUT
	PR "|This game was inspired by the Mathematical Merry-Go-Round Game,|
	PR "|decribed by Ron Tzur and Matthew Clark in "Riding the Mathematical Merry-Go-Round", |
	PR "|Teaching Children Mathematics, Volume 12, number 2 (April 2006): 388 - 393.|
	PR "|Press S to start the Turtle Rope Swing Game, or press D to see the demo.|
	MAKE "WHICH RC
	IF :WHICH = "D CT DEMO
	IF :WHICH = "S CT ANGLE 1
END
 
TO ANGLE :COUNTER
	IF :COUNTER = 11 CT PR (SE "|You have had 10 turns. Your total score is| WORD :SCORE ". "|Press the spacebar to quit.|) IGNORE RC CT DRAW STOP
	CT DRAW
	SETPC "BLUE HT
	SETW 6
	DOT [0 0]
	SETW 1
	SETPC "RED
	FD 140
	RT 90
	MAKE "DEGREES 4 + RANDOM 352
	MAKE "RADIUS.A 75 + RANDOM 65
	MAKE "RADIUS.B 10 + RANDOM 50
	MAKE "CIRCUM.A 2 * PI * :RADIUS.A * :DEGREES / 360
	MAKE "CIRCUM.B 2 * PI * :RADIUS.B * :DEGREES / 360
	PU ARCR 140 :DEGREES PD
	SETH TOWARDS [0 0]
	FD 140
	SETH 0
	ASK [1 2] [SETPC "BLACK ST]
	ASK 1 [PU FD :RADIUS.A RT 90 FD 20 PD TT "A PU BK 20 PD]
	ASK 2 [PU FD :RADIUS.B RT 90 FD 20 PD TT "B PU BK 20 PD]
	NEXT
END
 
TO DEMO
	CT DRAW
	SETPC "BLUE HT
	SETW 6
	DOT [0 0]
	PU FD 6 PD
	CT
	PR "|In the centre of the screen is a blue dot.|
	PR "|Imagine that a person is standing on the blue dot with a long invisible rope.|
	PR "|The person swings around any turtle holding onto the other end of the rope.|
	PR "|As the turtle is swung around it draws the path it travels through the air.|
	PR "|Press the spacebar to see a turtle being swung around.|
	IGNORE RC
	CT SETPC "BLACK HT
	SETW 1 PU FD 100 RT 90 PD ST WAIT 500 SETSPEED 0.8 ARCR 100 270 WAIT 500
	PR "|Press the spacebar to continue.|
	IGNORE RC
	CT
	PR "|See how good you can become at guessing how much a turtle is swung around.|
	PR "|To help you learn about angles, the turtle will be swung between two sides of an angle.|
	PR "|Press the spacebar when you are ready to start.|
	IGNORE RC
	SETSPEED 1
	ANGLE 1
END
 
TO NEXT
	PR "|Here is an angle. The person with the rope is on the blue dot at the corner point.|
	PR "|Turtle A will be swung around on the invisible rope to the other side of the angle.|
	PR "|Press the spacebar to continue.|
	IGNORE RC
	CT
	PR "|Watch it be swung around.|
	WAIT 1000
	MAKE "TOSS RANDOM 2
	IF :TOSS = 1 THEN ASK 1 [SETSPEED 0.5 SETH 90 ARCR :RADIUS.A :DEGREES WAIT 1000 HT]
	IF :TOSS = 2 THEN ASK 1 [SETSPEED 0.5 SETH 270 ARCL :RADIUS.A (360 - :DEGREES) WAIT 1000 HT]
	WAIT 1000 HT
	CT
	IF :TOSS = 2 THEN MAKE "CIRCUM.A 2 * PI * :RADIUS.A * (360 - :DEGREES) / 360 MAKE "CIRCUM.B 2 * PI * :RADIUS.B * (360 - :DEGREES) / 360
	IF :TOSS = 2 THEN MAKE "DEGREES 360 - :DEGREES
	PR (SE "|The path Turtle A travelled through the air was| ROUND :CIRCUM.A "|turtle steps long.|)
	PR "|It was swung around the corner point a certain number of little turns called degrees.|
	PR (SE "|When turtle B is given the same swing it will travel through the air on a path| ROUND :CIRCUM.B "|turtle steps long.|)
	PR "|What is the number of degrees that turtle B needs to be turned on its ride through the air?|
	PR "|(The difference between the number you give turtle B and the exact number it needs will be your score.)|
	PR "|Enter your number.|
	MAKE "RESPONSE READ
	IF :RESPONSE > 360 CT PR "|Your number should not be more than 360. Try again| MAKE "RESPONSE READ
	MAKE "DIFF ABS :DEGREES - :RESPONSE
	MAKE "SCORE :SCORE + :DIFF
	IF :TOSS = 1 ASK 2 [SETSPEED 0.5 SETH 90 ARCR :RADIUS.B :RESPONSE WAIT 1000 HT]
	IF :TOSS = 2 ASK 2 [SETSPEED 0.5 SETH 270 ARCL :RADIUS.B :RESPONSE WAIT 1000 HT]
	CT
	PR (SE "|You gave turtle B| :RESPONSE "|as the number of degrees for its ride through the air.|)
	PR (SE "|The number of degrees for turtle A's ride was| WORD :DEGREES ". :DEGREES "|is the number turtle B needed.|)
	PR (SE "|The difference between| :RESPONSE "|and| :DEGREES "|is| WORD :DIFF ", "|so your score is now| WORD :SCORE ".)
	PR "|Press the spacebar to continue.|
	IGNORE RC
	ANGLE :COUNTER + 1
END
 
TO ARCL :RADIUS :DEGREES
	 LOCAL "STEP LOCAL "REM
	 MAKE "STEP 2 * :RADIUS * 3.14 / 36
	 MAKE "REM REMAINDER :DEGREES 10
	 REPEAT :DEGREES / 10 [LT 5 FD :STEP LT 5]
	 IF :REM > 0 [FD :STEP * :REM / 10 LT :REM]
END
 
TO ARCR :RADIUS :DEGREES
	 LOCAL "STEP LOCAL "REM
	 MAKE "STEP 2 * :RADIUS * 3.14 / 36
	 MAKE "REM REMAINDER :DEGREES 10
	 REPEAT :DEGREES / 10 [RT 5 FD :STEP RT 5]
	 IF :REM > 0 [FD :STEP * :REM / 10 RT :REM]
END
 
MAKE "SCORE "15
MAKE "DEGREES "212
MAKE "TOSS "1
MAKE "CIRCUM.A "284.91
MAKE "CIRCUM.B "214.61
MAKE "WHICH "S
MAKE "ARC "45
MAKE "ARC.2 "330
MAKE "DIFF "7
MAKE "RADIUS.A "77
MAKE "RADIUS.B "58
MAKE "RAY.1 "148
MAKE "RAY.2 "84
MAKE "FACING "149.98
MAKE "RESPONSE "205
MAKE "POS.B [0 79]
 
MAIN