DR. FRACTIONSTEIN'S LABORATORY
a fraction game for elementary school students
created for the Raspberry Pi Bake-off by Marie Chatfield & Katherine Ford
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HOW TO PLAY
To play Dr. Fractionstein's Laboratory, run the Fractionstein.py file.
From the command line, enter the fractionstein directory and use the command
> python Fractionstein.py
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ABOUT
Dr. Fractionstein's Laboratory is a fraction game for fourth and fifth graders.
Using Dr. Fractionstein's Laboratory, students should demonstrate the following
skills:
- Add fractions of like denominators
- Add fractions of unlike denominators
- Find the least common denominator of a pair of fractions
- Convert between different scales of fractions
Students are asked to help make a monster by combining the correct measurements
of potions. There are four different monsters that students can make, which
represent four levels of difficulty (from having to complete 4 to 10 fractions
to win the game). If a student guesses incorrectly twice, the potions explode
and he or she must start over. Upon successful completion of the designated
number of fractions in the level, he or she is presented with a drawing of the
monster.
Although the fractions in each level have a fixed denominator, the numerator and
possible choices are randomly generated so that each game is unique. All
fractions in Dr. Fractionstein’s Laboratory are proper. There may be more than
one correct answer; all that matters is that the student chooses a combination
of fractions that sums to the prompt fraction. Finally, all fractions are
represented in their simplified forms so students may have to scale prompt and
answer fractions to find the correct answer (i.e. if a prompt fraction is ½,
the correct combination may be ⅓ and ⅙).
Dr. Fractionstein’s Laboratory encourages students to improve their fraction and
critical thinking skills in a novel way, with colorful graphics and silly
potion names to retain attention and stimulate students’ imagination. Later
versions of the game may introduce more options to fine-tune the difficulty
level, as well as pictorial representations, improper fractions, and fraction
subtraction/multiplication/division.
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Copyright (c) 2013 Marie Chatfield, Katherine Ford
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
THE SOFTWARE.