Buried Treasure is the second book in the series Developing Mathematical Thinking Through Game-based Learning. Buried Treasure is not just another game book. It is designed to guide the active reader towards discovery of strategies, to develop logical reasoning, and learn mathematics. The connections between the games in Buried Treasure and mathematical thinking are pointed out. Buried Treasure introduces graphing on the Cartesian coordinate plane, on the Polar coordinate plane, with three dimensional coordinates, and using coordinates on the surface of a sphere.
Buried Treasure is intended for a variety of audiences. Buried Treasure is a resource for teachers of grade levels 5-12 and is also a fun tool for home schooling parents. Buried Treasure can also complement the physical exercise program for active older adults who wish to exercise their brains as well.
Sample Games and Puzzles from Buried Treasure
In this set of Buried Treasure Puzzles with Tetrominoes, the goal is to find the two different tetrominoes hidden in a grid of 6x6 squares. The two tetrominoes will not occupy adjacent squares, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Occasionally, a portion of a tetromino is shown. The numbers across the bottom and along the side indicate the number of squares from tetrominoes that occur in that row or column.
5. 6. 7.
For Puzzles 15-19 below, sketch a pentomino given the coordinates of only some of its corners. There are multiple solutions. Different solutions may include the same pentomino in a different position or a completely different pentomino. Five of the ten corners include: (3,3), (4,4), (5,5), (6,6), (5,4)
15. 16. 17.
18. 19.
Buried Treasure with the Cartesian Coordinate System
Now you are ready to play Buried Treasure Game Level 2A. Locate the game sheet for the Level 2A game. Select a partner and an opposing team. Each team selects any one of the twelve pentominoes and hides it on the grid labeled your team’s buried treasure.
Rules:
Use the same rules (1-7) as Buried Treasure Level 1 with this addition:
•Teams still take three digs at a time but the response by the other team does not happen until after all three digs take place.
Basic Strategies:
1. Create a system on the grid to determine if the “dig” is a hit or a miss just as suggested for Level 1 play (X for miss, C for corner, E for edge).
2. Do not place digs in a corner. A corner dig covers only one square while a dig just inside a corner covers the same corner square and it also covers three other squares.
3. Do not place digs next to each other. For example the two digs (1,5) and (2,5) cover six squares while the two digs (2,2) and (4,2) cover eight squares.
4. The other team does not tell you which individual dig is a hit or miss until after all three of your digs are complete. Therefore do not spread your digs too far apart.
Not such a good idea A better idea
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