Game Maker · Lesson 3

Lesson 3: Game Mash-up

Students combine well-known games into a new fast-play carnival game, making design decisions about fairness and scoring while applying an engineering design process.

Class time

about 60 minutes

Lesson

Lesson 3 of 4

Adventure

Game Maker

Overview

This lesson builds on previous lessons and gives students more agency and flexibility in designing their own games with rules and scoring. Students generate creative ideas for carnival-style games by combining well-known games, applying what they learned in Lessons 1 and 2 about data, scoring, and fairness to design fun games they can build and play. This lesson fosters curiosity as a Data Habit of Mind. It is intentionally fast-paced and collaborative — the goal is to get students thinking like game designers and to have working prototypes ready for peer testing at the carnival in the next lesson. This lesson and the student design process were adapted from an engineering design process (EDP) used by NASA.

Student Objectives

I can…

✓ I can generate multiple game mash-up ideas by combining familiar game elements.
✓ I can make design decisions that affect fairness and game outcomes.
✓ I can use procedural writing to communicate game rules and scoring methods.
✓ I can collaborate with teammates to build on shared ideas.
✓ I can design and begin prototyping a new game using instructions, scoring, and data collection.

At a Glance

Total: about 60 minutes

Section	Time	Slides	What happens
Launch — connect to Data Habits of Mind and prior experience	10 min	2–10	Introduce the lesson — the big goal is for students to design a new game. Introduce today's Data Habit of Mind: curiosity. Have students think about a game they are good at and analyze whether it is mostly skill or luck. Describe the lesson flow and introduce NASA's engineering design process (EDP) for creating and refining games. Share the driving question and connect it to the "defining a problem" step: How can we use what we learned about data to design a new game?
Engage — activate prior knowledge to list known games	5 min	11–15	Give each student a blank piece of paper and set a 2-minute timer to individually brainstorm games they know (cards, board games, outdoor games, sports). Encourage analog, offline games, since students will need games they can build with classroom materials. When time is up, have students pair up and combine their lists using a "Novel Ideas Only" protocol.
Create — generate and explore new game ideas	10 min	16–20	Set the stage for creative design and discuss what makes a good carnival game. Describe how to combine two games in a "mash-up" to invent a new one. Set a 5-minute timer and have students brainstorm and sketch or describe their ideas on the Student Handout - Game Mash-up. Emphasize that ALL ideas are valuable.
Consensus — support collaboration	5 min	21–22	Revisit the EDP — students have just finished the brainstorm-solutions stage; the next step is to select a design. Form groups (3 students is ideal) and have them decide on ONE idea to develop into a new fast-paced carnival game, building on each other's ideas as needed. Use a structured share — each student shares while the others listen without comment, and only after everyone has shared does the team discuss. On a 45-minute schedule, this is a good place to pause the lesson.
Clarify — share design process and requirements	5 min	23–26	After groups select ONE game idea, have them work together to design it. Explain the needs and design requirements of their carnival games and talk through the Cornhole game example. Provide the Group Handout - Game Design and explain how to use the packet as a guide. Before the next lesson each team needs a game prototype, clear instructions, and a score sheet — but not a written response to every question in the handout.
Prototype Time — move from planning to constructing	15 min	27–28	Support students as they begin developing a prototype of their game. Teams may move fluidly between sketching, planning, writing instructions, creating a score sheet, gathering materials, testing ideas, and building. Use the Group Handout - Game Design as a notebook to document decisions, not as a worksheet that must be completed.
Closing — reflect on design and prepare for final build	8 min	29	Explain how groups wrap up — organize materials, store prototypes, and complete the Team Assessment. Invite students to evaluate their progress, identify unfinished work, and name questions they are still curious about to prepare for the final build session in the next lesson.
Reflect — reinforce curiosity as a tool for design improvement	2 min	30	Have students revisit the Data Habit of Mind: curiosity. Ask them to share a question they still have about their game design and what they want to learn through testing and gameplay.

Materials & Prep

Print

Student Handout - Game Mash-up · 1 per student
Print single-sided.
Group Handout - Game Design · 1 per group of 3–4 students
Print double-sided and stapled as a packet.

Gather

Blank paper for individual game list
1 per student.
Markers, colored pencils, or crayons
Various game-building materials
Cardstock or chipboard
For game instructions and building.
Tape, scissors, glue
Glue guns
Optional.
Sentence starters, visual / bilingual vocabulary cards
Optional supports.

Digital

Slide deck
Internet access and a computer with projector to show slides.

Before You Teach

☐Set up classroom space for game building and testing.
☐Plan areas for group work and game building.
☐Plan where students can access materials and supplies.
☐Plan an area to keep team design materials between Lesson 3 and Lesson 4.
☐Decide how students will get and put away materials (for example, groups take turns or assign a group material manager).

Slide Deck

Open slide deck to project Open with speaker notes

Open slide deck to project launches the fullscreen slideshow in a new tab. Open with speaker notes opens the deck in Google Slides with the speaker-notes pane below each slide — read these to prep, or open presenter view while projecting. The preview above is just a quick look.