Vida, mar e muita história pra contar > Didactic materials > Life & Sea Game

Life & Sea Game

Life & Sea Game

O Jogo Vida & Mar é um jogo de tabuleiro que trabalha os temas Origem da Vida, Evolução e Biodiversidade. Na exposição “Vida, Mar e Muita História pra Contar” o jogo foi montado em tamanho gigante e os próprios visitantes seguiam a trilha, como peças d0 jogo. Aqui, disponibilizamos uma versão para impressão no tamanho 60 x 40 cm, para que você possa levá-lo e jogá-lo em qualquer lugar! O conteúdo do Jogo Vida & Mar inclui a ficha técnica, as regras do jogo, as fichas de tarefas, o tabuleiro e os painéis da exposição “Vida, mar e muita história pra contar”. O Jogo Vida & Mar está disponível num arquivo PDF. Para fazer o download do Jogo Vida & Mar clique no link a seguir:

Download the Instructions
Download the Board

Information and instructions are also available below:

Rules of Life & Sea Game

Read carefully through the information below before starting the game!

Ages 12 and up.

The game can be used to:

  • Introduce information on subjects such as the origin of life, evolution and biodiversity.
  • Motivate and complement studies on marine life.
  • Integrate information about the origin of life, evolution and biodiversity.
  • Evaluate knowledge on these themes.
  • Develop group work skills.

Number of players (students):

Minimum of two players, maximum of four. The students can also be separated into teams (maximum of four teams), each one represented by one player.

You will need:

  • 1 dice
  • counters (any type of counter; you can improvise with any type of seed, or with erasers or pencil sharpeners, for example).

Game components:

  • Rules
  • cards (containing the tasks defined for each tile of the board: “True or False”, “Who am I?” and “Questions”).
  • game board
  • All components available in the PDF above

Game preparation:

In the original exhibition a group of 30 posters was presented, dealing with themes ranging from the origin of the Earth, of the oceans and of life, to the diversification of life forms resulting in present-day biodiversity. The game Life & Sea is based on the information on these posters. If the posters are not available, the educator can make use of text books or websites to work on the desired theme with the students.

The themes approached by the posters are:

  • Ocean Formation
  • The Origin of Life (Chemical Theory)
  • The Emergence of Life in the Oceans
    • Precambrian: the beginning of diversification
    • Diversification at the beginning of the Paleozoic Era
    • Diversification at the end of the Paleozoic Era
    • Diversification in the Mesozoic Era
    • Diversification in the Cenozoic Era
  • Research on Evolution: 150 years of history, or more….
  • Evolutionary Mechanisms – a few “evolutions”
  • The Scientific View
  • Marine Biodiversity
    • Algae and Plants
    • Marine Protozoans
    • Cnidarians
    • Ctenophorans
    • Worms
    • Mollusks
    • Annelids
    • Crustaceans
    • Lophophorates
    • Echinoderms
    • Tunicates
    • Fish
    • Cetaceans
  • Coral Reefs
  • Rocky Shore
  • Sandy Beaches
  • Deep Sea
  • Plankton

Make sure the cards are correctly separated into categories (see the following step on the board’s tiles). Shuffle the cards within each category and keep the task description on each card face down. Pile the cards at the side of the board.

Place a counter for each player (or group of players) at the start of the board.

Getting familiar with the board’s tiles:

“True or False” Tile (represented by letters T or F): the cards from this category contain general-knowledge statements about the ocean. The players must say whether the sentence is correct (True) or wrong (False).

“Who am I” Tile (represented by a magnifying glass): when a counter stops on a “Who am I” tile the player receives information (clues) on a marine animal. The player must then identify the animal.

“Question” Tile (represented by a question mark): when a counter stops on a “Question” tile the player must answer questions related to the themes presented in the exhibition posters. In this material you will find some questions with specific content based on these posters. You may choose to adapt those questions to fit your working program.

Bonus Tile: when a counter stops on this tile the player must move forward the number of tiles indicated.

Penalty Tile: when a counter stops on this tile the player must move backward the number of tiles indicated.

How to play:

Start of the game:

All players roll the dice to determine the order of play. Whoever rolls the highest number on the dice starts first. The player with the highest number moves his or her counter forward on the board, in accordance with the number selected on the dice.

The tile on which the counter stops defines the task to be performed (“True or False,” “Who am I?,” “Questions,” Bonus, or Penalty).

If the counter stops on a Bonus / Penalty tile:

The player performs the task described on the tile and passes the turn to the next player/team.

If the counter stops on “True or False,” “Who am I?,” or “Questions”:

An opponent player selects a card from the respective category and reads its content out loud to the player/team performing the task.

If the player/team answers correctly, this same player/team rolls the dice again and moves the counter forward the number of tiles selected, performs the next task, and so on.

If the player/team answers incorrectly, the next player/team gets the right to roll the dice and perform tasks.

Before moving on with the game, the opponent player/team must say what the correct answer is and remove that card from the game (placing it face upwards in a different pile)

The winner is the player/team who first reaches the end of the board.

And you will see that, in the end, all players win by learning lots of interesting information and having fun!

Bibliographic References

BRANSFORD, John D. (Ed); BROWN, Ann L. (Ed); COCKING, Rodney R. (Ed); DONOVAN, M. Suzanne (Ed); Pellegrino, James W(Ed). How people learn: brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC :  National Academy Press, 2000. 374 p.

CORNELL, Joseph. Sharing nature with children: the classic parent’s and teacher’s nature awareness guidebook. Nevada City, CA : Dawn Publications, 1998. 176 p.

COULOMBE, Deborah A. The seaside naturalist: a guide to study at the seashore. New York, NY : Simon & Schuster, 1992. 256 p.

LINGELBACH, Jenepher (Ed); PURCELL, Lisa (Ed). Hands-on nature: information and activities for exploring the environment with children. Woodstock, Vermont : Vermont Institute of Natural Science, 2000. 336 p. Ilustrado por Susan Sawyer.

UZELMEIR, Calvin. Learning to listen to the visitor. Journal of Museum Education, 31 : 3, 2006. 207-214 p.