E-Learning Assessment--The Search for the Emerald Key--Path A--Artifacts and Challenging Tasks

If we refer back to the map in the last post and continue to look at the characteristics of Path A, there are a few items that should be examined in the clearing where the first set of ruins are. The items outside the ruins are:

1.  Odd shaped coins
2.  A old sword
3.  Long vines hanging down from the surrounding trees
4.  A well of water that is traveling counter clockwise in a vortex but does not drop in quantity

I also suggested to you that in the darkness of the open door to the tower there is an object glowing green. There is a good chance that it might be an artifact that will help to put together the location of the emerald key. Since you can see it glowing in the darkness and it seems to look near, you walk towards it and enter through the tower door. It seems to get closer but then as you walk towards it, you walk into a wall. You find an old torch attached to a wall and you use a match , the only match that you have, and you light it. You are amazed at what you see! The object that seems to be in front of your eyes is really a reflection and seems to be still at a distance.

What gives??

Challenge #1: You have just walked into your first challenging task! It turns out that what you are seeing is a reflection of the object. The walls inside the tower have a mirror like quality and what you are seeing is actually a reflection of an object that is further into the tower. As you turn to your right, you see the object or is it a reflection? You also notice that their is more than one corridor.

Question:"In order to find the object and retrieve it, what do you need to do?"

Higher order thinking skills require that you analyze the problem. You need to determine what kind of skill sets will be required in order to find a solution to this problem. In this instance, you might need mathematical skills to determine angles and distances. You might also need to know something about optics and the physics of light.

Question: "If you venture further into the tower, through a maze of corridors, how do you keep from getting lost?"(Hint--Think about the artifacts available in the clearing which includes all that are listed above.)

The following are possible options that the student may come up with

Option #1: Go back outside, use the old sword to cut down some of the long vines, tie them together, tie one end to a tree trunk and tie the other end around your waist. However, if you leave the torch it will go out . What do you do?

Option #2: Go back outside, gather up the coins and use them as "bread crumbs" that you drop as you go further into the tower. When you find the artifact, you can then follow the coins back out, picking the coins up as you return to the entrance of the tower.

When the student makes it back to the entrance, he or she determines, after consulting with team members using their wearable technology, that he or she should collect all the artifacts in the clearing and store them in the backpack for future use.

The glowing artifact has symbols engraved on it as follows:

Still there is the very curious well in which the water forms a vortex that is moving in a counter clockwise direction.

Challenge #2: You are getting thirsty but you do not know if the water is safe to drink. Use your skills to try and find out. You need to perhaps contact your team members but how will you show them what you are looking at?
Also, you want to talk to them about the strange movement of the water.You remember something about a scientific phenomenon called the "Coriolis Effect" and that it has something to do with locating places on the Earth.

Other Challenges on Path A

As the team member moves further north, he or she comes to the following challenges:

1. Must determine a way around an active lava flow.
2. Comes across an unidentified snake that strikes his or her leg.
3. Comes to the Great Fissure and notices that there are two ledges down in the fissure and that the first one has a glowing green artifact as shown below

 

It is becoming obvious that you can not deal with challenges #2 & #3 under "other challenges" alone. It is time to check the progress of your team member on Path B.

Next......Path B