Turtle Rope Swing Game

by jahayes@extra.co.nz - 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 INT (: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 INT (:DEGREES / 10) [RT 5 FD :STEP RT 5]
        IF :REM > 0 [FD :STEP * :REM / 10 RT :REM]
END

MAIN

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Procedure	MAIN
Description	Illustrates angles and degrees
Level	Intermediate
Tags	Angles, Degrees