AQUAQUEST

Game Summary

"Aquaquest" is an interactive board game designed for children to enhance their

higher-order thinking skills. The game features an octagon-shaped board with five ponds
and five types of aqua life: fish, turtle, crab, lotus, and snail. There are 10 tokens in total: 4
grey tokens to cover ponds and 6 green tokens in various shapes (h, small fork, q, +, Capital
I, and bow). The goal is for the players to use the green tokens to represent the correct aqua
life in the ponds, requiring careful spatial reasoning, planning, and strategy.

Learning Objectives and Real-World Skills Examples

1. Understanding Environmental Interrelations: Players learn to connect the tokens

(input) to the output (aqua life) and environment (pond), seeing how their choices
affect the game board.

Example: This is similar to understanding how planting a seed (input) can result in a
plant growing (output), helping students grasp cause-and-effect relationships in
nature and everyday life, like watering plants or feeding pets.

2. Mental Rotation and Spatial Reasoning: Children practice rotating the tokens to fit
into the ponds, developing their ability to visualize objects from different angles.

Example: This is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle or arranging toys to fit neatly
into a toy box. It helps with understanding maps, LEGO building, and even packing a
school bag efficiently.

3. Exploring Possibilities and Decision-Making: The game encourages students to

try different token placements, helping them understand that there are multiple ways
to solve a problem.

Example: This is similar to choosing different routes to school or deciding how to

share toys during playtime. It helps children weigh options, such as deciding how to
divide their time between homework and play.

4. Planning and Strategy: Players must think ahead to decide which tokens to place
first and where to develop strategic thinking.

Example: This skill is like organizing tasks during the day—deciding when to do
homework, when to play, and when to eat. It teaches kids how to plan ahead, like
preparing their school bag the night before or arranging blocks to build a stable
structure.

5. Trial and Error and Persistence: As players try different token placements, they
learn from mistakes and adjust their approach.
 Example: This is similar to learning how to ride a bicycle or practicing handwriting.
Children might fall or make errors at first, but with persistence, they improve and
eventually succeed, building resilience.

6. Teamwork and Collaboration: When playing with others, children learn to

communicate, share ideas, and work together to solve the puzzle.

Example: This is like working together on a group project in class or playing team
sports. It helps kids understand how to listen to others, share their ideas, and
cooperate to reach a common goal.

Key Takeaways from Game Challenges

● Teamwork & Collaboration: Collaborating to place tokens fosters cooperation and

communication skills.
● Persistence: The game teaches persistence, as students must try various
approaches and learn from mistakes to achieve the correct arrangement.
● Planning: Strategic thinking is crucial, as players must consider all options before
placing tokens.
● Critical Thinking: Players must think ahead and evaluate how each decision
impacts the overall outcome.

TRANSFERENCE STORIES & ACTIVITIES

GRADE 1

Story 1: Tina's Puzzle Adventure

Tina loves playing with her toys, but she has a hard time putting them away neatly after
playtime. One day, after playing the Aquaquest game in class, she realizes how important it
is to rotate the tokens and figure out where they fit best. Tina remembers this when she's
cleaning up her room. She starts arranging her toys by thinking about where each one fits,
just like how she had to place the green tokens on the ponds. Now, she can easily fit her
toys into the box and feels proud of how neat her room looks. By thinking about space and
turning things in her mind, Tina can now solve puzzles and even help her mom organize the
kitchen.

Story 2: Sam's Chocolate Milk

Sam loves chocolate milk. He helps his mother when she is making chocolate milk for him.
One day, after playing Aquaquest, Sam remembers how important it was to add proper
inputs to get the right output. While observing his mother, Sam noticed how his mother uses
different inputs (milk, chocolate, gas stove) in the kitchen (environment) to make chocolate
milk (output) just like he learned in the game.
1-Minute Activity: Plant, Water, Grow!

Draw three small pictures on the board representing a plant seed, water, and a flower.
Draw a small garden on the board. Ask the students to sequence the pictures to show how
the input (the seed and water) leads to the output (the flower growing in the garden).
Afterward, briefly discuss how the garden (environment) needs the right inputs (water and
seed) to produce the output (flower).

GRADE 2

Story 1: Aditi’s Garden Adventure

Aditi loves to help her grandmother in the garden. One day, after playing Aquaquest in
school, she noticed how the environment (ponds) and tokens (input) worked together to
create the aqua life (output). The next time she’s in the garden, Aditi remembers that to
make the plants grow, she needs to give the right inputs, like water, sunlight, and fertilizer,
and the garden (environment) will help the flowers bloom (output). She starts checking how
much water each plant needs and learns that just like in the game, each plant needs specific
care to grow well. Now, she’s excited to see how her inputs help create beautiful flowers.

Story 2: The Art Class Challenge

In art class, your teacher handed out different-shaped colored paper pieces: squares,
circles, triangles, and rectangles. The task was to create a collage on a sheet of paper, fitting
all the shapes without overlapping. The students quickly got to work, rotating and moving the
shapes around, much like their Aquaquest tokens. By checking all possibilities and finding
the perfect spots for each piece, they created a beautiful, colorful collage, learning about
shapes and space while having fun with their art project.

1-Minute Activity: What’s Missing?

On the board, draw two scenarios that depend on inputs and environment to produce an
output:

1. A car (environment) with fuel (input) but no key (input).

2. A computer (environment) without electricity (input).

Ask the students to identify which input is missing in each situation. Once they’ve identified
the missing input, have a quick discussion about how adding the correct input to the
environment will change the output (the car will start, and the computer will turn on).

GRADE 3

Story 1: Aryan’s Baking Experiment

Aryan loves helping his mom bake muffins. After playing Aquaquest at school, Aryan begins
to see how the game’s focus on inputs (tokens) and environment (ponds) creating outputs
(aqua life) is just like baking! When he and his mom bake, the ingredients (input) like flour,
sugar, and eggs need to be added to the right baking environment (oven), and with the
right temperature, it all creates muffins (output). Aryan realizes that without the correct
amounts of ingredients or without using the oven properly, the muffins won’t turn out right.
Now, he takes more care in measuring the ingredients and watching the oven to make sure
everything bakes perfectly.

Story 2: The Treasure Hunt

In Ms. Rao's third-grade class, the students were given a special challenge: a treasure hunt!
Each student received a treasure map with various landmarks, but the paths to the treasure
were jumbled. Using their Aquaquest skills, the kids had to mentally rotate the map and
check all possible routes to find the shortest and safest path to the treasure. They
collaborated, discussing and trying different paths, until they found the right one. By applying
their spatial reasoning and problem-solving abilities, they successfully located the treasure,
learning the importance of teamwork and perseverance along the way.

1-Minute Activity: Right Ingredients, Right Results

Give each student a short scenario involving different inputs and environments. For
example:

● A plant (environment) needs sunlight and water (input) to grow (output).

● A campfire (environment) needs wood and a match (input) to burn/give fire (output).

Ask the students to quickly identify the necessary inputs for the given environment to
achieve the correct output. Ask them for more such examples, where the right environment
and input come together to give a desirable output.

GRADE 4

Story 1: The Class Field Trip

During a field trip to a local nature reserve, students encounter a challenge: they must map
out a route to explore the most interesting spots without getting lost. Remembering
Aquaquest, they mentally rotate their map, considering different pathways and possibilities.
They divide into groups, each taking on a role—navigator, timekeeper, and safety
monitor—working together to ensure they visit all key areas efficiently. Their planning and
problem-solving skills, honed from the game, help them navigate the reserve smoothly and
make the most of their adventure.

Story 2: Maya’s Aquarium Project

Maya wanted to create an aquarium for her room, so she started researching what she
needed. After playing Aquaquest, she understood that different fish need specific
environments to thrive. Maya carefully selected the right fish (input) and ensured that her
aquarium had clean water with the right temperature and plants (environment). Over time,
she saw how healthy and happy her fish were, and she realized that, just like in Aquaquest,
she needed to balance the inputs and environment for a good output.
1-Minute Activity: Let’s go for a Picnic!

Present the students with a quick scenario: “You and your friends are planning a picnic. You
have an hour to get everything ready. What do you need to plan for the picnic?” Ask students
to quickly jot down or share aloud their ideas, like food, games, location, transport, etc. In
just one minute, they should list as many things as possible and discuss how they would
decide what to prioritize, similar to the game where they need to decide the best token
placement.

GRADE 5

Story 1: The Class Newsletter

In a class newsletter challenge, students must develop a newsletter and pitch it to a panel.
Recalling their teamwork and planning skills from Aquaquest, they brainstorm different
possibilities of what they can include in the newsletter, assessing the pros and cons of each
idea. They mentally rotate these ideas, just like the game tokens, to see which fits best with
their vision. They break into teams, each member taking on roles like finance, marketing,
and design, ensuring that every detail is planned out, just like their strategic approach to
solving the game’s challenges.

1-Minute Activity: Eco-System Mapping Challenge

This activity will help in applying environmental interrelationship concepts and

decision-making skills. Present the students with a scenario: “Imagine you have a piece of
land to create a new park. In one minute, draw a rough plan showing where you’ll place
different elements like trees, a pond, a playground, benches, and a flower garden.”

Encourage them to think about the interrelationship between elements (e.g., trees providing
shade for the benches, the pond supporting the flower garden) and make quick decisions.
Once the minute is up, have them explain their choices, highlighting their decision-making
process and understanding of environmental balance.