What do computerized braille, the egg carton, pacemakers, AM radio, and snowmobiles have in common? They were all invented in Canada!
Developed as part of the Canada 150 celebrations, with funding assistance from Canadian Heritage, Alberta Innovates, and the Government of Alberta, Mission: Maple Leaf provides students with a fun and engaging way to learn about and explore Canadian contributions to science and technology. It is part of Wonderville.org, a STEM blended learning platform.
Mission: Maple Leaf is an interactive, multi-level, digital educational game available in both French and English that takes users on a journey across time and space. After receiving a distress signal from a far-off planet, the player – alongside a cheeky little Robot named Ed – must complete a series of puzzles which leads them on a journey through some of Canada’s greatest scientific and technological achievements.
The game explores how Indigenous People overcame the challenges of farming in Canada’s climate and developed communication and trade without a common spoken language; replicates the design and building of the first telephone and the electron microscope; and more. From traditional medicines to the light bulb, the walkie-talkie to the Canada Arm, Mission: Maple Leaf shows the ingenuity of Canadian people across the fields of health and medicine, transportation, communications, and agriculture, as well as Canada’s contributions to space exploration and how young Canadians are impacting our world.
Quick Facts:
- Target audience for Mission: Maple Leaf: students in grades 4 through 9 (but we’ve heard from more than one adult that the game is informative, challenging, and fun).
- The game supports the overall curriculum goal to “enable students to use science and technology to acquire new knowledge and solve problems, so that they may improve the quality of their own lives and the lives of others”.
- User testing was conducted at three partner schools – grades 4, 5 and 7
- Renert School, Calgary (English)
- Madeleine d’Houet School, Calgary (French)
- Chiila Elementary School, Tsuut’ina Nation (English)
Wonderville.org games and learning activities are free for students and parents. For teachers who would like access to additional features, including ready-to-teach lesson, assessments, reporting and more, there is a low subscription fee.
Wonderville.org is a MindFuel program. Because MindFuel is an Alberta-based not-for-profit, Albertans receive a 50% discount on annual subscriptions. To learn more about MindFuel, and it STEM learning programs, visit mindfuel.ca
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Source: Alberta’s Promise