Sphero Financial Literacy Game

Sphero Financial Literacy Game

In this game, students will use coding skills to navigate a game

board. They will be randomly assigned a career, education level and
income. From here, they will choose a path on the game board. Each
of the "stops" of their robotic device will correspond with different
scenarios (transportation, housing, expenses, insurance and
debts/earnings) that can occur, based on real-life decisions that affect
finances.

Materials
Sphero Sprk+, 2.0 or Sphero USB charging Optional:
newer adapter Sphero accessories or
Scissors iPad or Smartphone miscellaneous items
with Sphero Edu app* (Legos, KNex, ramps,
Labeling or masking tunnels, etc.) to create
tape (red, yellow, blue, Notebook (for math Sphero challenges
green, orange) calculations)

*** At least one device must be equipped with Bluetooth. Compatible iOS devices for
the Sphero are the iPod Touch (4th Generation +), iPhone 4S+, iPad (3rd Generation
+), iPad Air and iPad Mini. The required iOS Version is 8+. Sphero is compatible
with nearly all Android devices that have OS Version 4.4.2+ (Kit Kat), Chrome
OS and the Kindle Fire HDX (Version 7 and 8.9).

Basic economic concepts regarding

personal financial planning, budgeting, spending,
saving, investing, borrowing and insuring decisions
are presented via a fun game that involves
driving and coding a robotic device.

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 Sphero Financial Literacy Game Print and Cut Out
1. Print and cut out the 12 Career Rectangle Cards (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Career Rectangle Cards

2. Print and cut out the 25 Colored Circle Cards (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Colored Circle Cards

Stack each Colored Circle Card (Figure 3). You should have a total of 5
piles (blue, red, yellow, green and orange). Shuffle each of the piles, so that
you are mixing up the shapes for each color.

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 Sphero Financial Literacy Game

Figure 3: Five Stacks of Colored Circle Cards

3. Print the Key to the Game Board (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Key

Create Your Game Board

Find a flat surface (about the size of a small area rug) to build the game
board. With masking tape, create a 5X5 grid (area = 625 square inches or 4.84
square feet) (Figure 5), where the length of the outer borders of the grid is 25
inches. Follow the color scheme in the Colored Grid Prototype (Figure 6) and
Floor Grid example (Figure 7).

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 Sphero Financial Literacy Game

Figure 5: Measurements for Floor Grid Figure 6: Colored Grid Prototype Figure 7: Floor Grid

Set-up
Arrange the Colored Circle Cards according to the Colored Grid
Prototype. For example, place the one blue circle card on one of the blue
squares and continue until all squares are filled with the corresponding color
(Figure 8). With your mobile device, connect the Sphero to your device and
open the Sphero drive feature in the Sphero Edu app.

1. Floor Grid
2. Colored Circle Cards
3. Key
4. Mobile device (Sphero Edu app opened)
5. Sphero
6. Career Cards
7. Notebook

Figure 8: Game Set-up

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 Sphero Financial Literacy Game
Playing the Game
Pass out one Career Rectangle Card per student. This will establish what career
path, education level and income each player has. Each student chooses a
financial path by choosing a shape. Each student takes turns driving the
Sphero robotic device to square associated with the chosen shape of each
color. For example, if a student chooses the "pentagon" financial path, they
need to drive the robotic device a total of five times (to the blue, red, yellow,
green and orange circle cards that have the pentagon shape) in the game. Once
they land on their card, they use the Key to determine what happens to their
money. The student should keep a notebook or paper handy to complete the
calculations. Once each player has visited the five designated spots, the game is
over. The players should compare how much "money" they have at the end of
the game. The player with the most money wins.

Challenge Activity:
The students can create a coding challenge to complete after they have
completed their financial path. The amount and the level of challenge needs to
be agreed upon by the players before the game. For example, the students
could set up a ramp and an empty can (tops and bottoms eliminated). The
challenge would be to drive the Sphero up the ramp and to go through the
tunnel. The student that achieves the challenge can win an additional
amount (e.g., $500) to be added on to their previous score. The skies the limit.
The students can make a series of challenges, each worth more than the other
and can level the challenge(s) according to age and ability. You can view the
Community section of the Sphero Edu app and the section on Sphero
Challenges at http://learncurrency.weebly.com/finance.html for additional
ideas.

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