Mission 29
The Missing Instructions
Larkfield School keeps a page for every job in its big How-To Folder, and the wind has scattered it. A seed needs planting, the class tortoise needs looking after, a tent has to be up by dark, a bookshelf is still flat in its box, and Friday is the star party. Put each page back together so that someone can really follow it.
- 5 parts
- 12 to 20 minutes
- Grades 6 to 8
Who is playing?
Each age gets its own version of the story. Any of them is fine to play.
Grades 6 to 8
A Card for First-Timers
The job: Write a telescope card that someone who has never used one can follow, test it on real first-timers, and justify every fix.
- Exactly What It Says With a PlayOwl plan
- Choose the Words With a PlayOwl plan
- Every Line Earns Its Place With a PlayOwl plan
- A Second First-Timer With a PlayOwl plan
- Friday Night With a PlayOwl plan
For grown-ups: what this mission practices
Putting the steps of a real job in a working order, noticing a step that is missing or does not belong, and reasoning about what each step needs first. Older children find steps that may trade places, plan the time, share work between two people, test instructions on a reader who does exactly what is written, and fix the wording rather than the reader, with reasons.
- Ages
- Five versions, from Preschool to Grade 8. They are different designs, not the same task with other numbers.
- How it is checked
- Every answer is checked by rules the child can see at work on the screen. Any answer that meets them is right.
- Help
- Olly can read any line aloud, give a hint that points at where to look, or show one way. A report says where help was used.
- Time
- Nothing is timed. A part takes a few minutes and progress is saved after each one for a signed-in child.