Mission 17
The Water Route
The water is here and the thirsty garden is over there. Mend a gap, lay a path of pipes around a rock, branch one line to feed two places, and make a short supply of pipe go a long way. Then find the leaks and stop them, because every drop counts.
- 5 parts
- 14 to 18 minutes
- Grades 4 and 5
Who is playing?
Each age gets its own version of the story. Any of them is fine to play.
Grades 4 and 5
Three Houses on Orchard Lane
The job: Plan the pipes from the hill tank to three new houses with the 14 pipes on the truck, and explain why your design wins.
- Three Meters a Pipe With a PlayOwl plan
- Split Early or Split Late? With a PlayOwl plan
- Three Houses, Two Tees With a PlayOwl plan
- The Orchard Standpipe With a PlayOwl plan
- Mill Row With a PlayOwl plan
For grown-ups: what this mission practices
Spatial reasoning on a squared plan (turning and joining pieces into a connected path), counting and adding lengths, comparing routes, working inside a budget of pipe or coins, and reasoning from a simple stated model: water flows wherever pipes join end to end, an open end spills, and a longer path needs more pipe. Older children compare designs and justify a choice.
- 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.