Friday, October 30, 2015

Equations Worksheets

Equations worksheets are linked on the right. There is a packet for Elementary players (6th graders) and one for Middle players (7th and 8th grade). We will not be printing out the worksheets, so it is up to each student to print them out on their own. Worksheets are due before Thanksgiving break.

For every page completed, students will get one point added to their Friday tournament score, regardless of the number of problems they get correct. The idea is to reward effort. Students are encouraged to bring their worksheet packet with them to all practices, as we will often have times when they can work on them with other students.

6th and 7th grade students can get a maximum of 20 points from the worksheets, while 8th grade students can only get points for the worksheets that have not been in previous years' packets, specifically worksheets 7O, 7P, 7Q, 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 10C, & 10D 

Thursday, October 29, 2015

October Tournament Results

55 students from the Clague team competed in Saturday's tournament against students from other schools in Ann Arbor, Jackson, Northville, Detroit, and Fenton.  Overall Clague finished with an average of 15.98 (low is 8, max is 20), good for first place in the tournament, and with a top 5 score of 100 (out of 100), also good for first place!

Top Scorers (18 or higher) included:
Aarnav U.
Anirudh C.
Avani G.
Ben Z.
Bhaavna Y.
Brian W.
Daniel H.
Daniel W.
Derek H..
Eric H.
James X.
Jin L.
Kaiwen Y.
Marisa R.
Matthew R.
Max M.
Mimi G.
Prathik G.
Raayan B.
Rafid F.
Young Seo L.
Zihao W.

Online team results for Region B (and all other regions) can be found at mlagonline.com

Congrats to all the Clague players who attended the first tournament of the year.  The next tournament is November 21 at Detroit Gompers.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

The Game of On-Sets

We have now moved along to playing On-Sets (in addition to Equations and Presidents) during our practices.

Clague players will already know everything in this post, but just in case some parents or people interested in learning Academic Games are reading, here is a (very) simplified version of what On-Sets is about. 

On-Sets is a game of set theory, and therefore a game of logic. The game consists of cards, cubes, a timer, a "flub", and a board. 

Cards have between zero and four colored dots on them -- blue, red, green, or yellow.  This means there are 16 (=2^4) cards in the set.  Only some of them are dealt (face-up) and these become the "universe".

There are several types of cubes.   Eight have colors on them.  A yellow cube means the set of all cards which have a yellow dot on them -- and similarly for blue, red, and green.  Seven of the other cubes mostly have set operators such as union, intersection, and complement.   [If you're new to set theory, it might be helpful to see the Wikipedia Page on basic set theory]

The three remaining cubes have digits on them.  One player -- the "goal-setter" -- uses these cubes to form a numeric goal.  Players must then be prepared to write an expression using set theory where the number of cards in the universe described by their formula equals the goal that was set. 

The rest of the game is similar to Equations -- as cubes are moved onto the various sections of the board it changes which cubes must (or must not) be used in solutions, and players look for opportunities to "challenge" the moves of their opponents.

There is a lot more to On-Sets -- particularly at the Adventurous level that the Clague team plays at.  The complete rules and other documents about the game can be found at the Michigan Leagues of Academic Games website


Monday, October 19, 2015

The Game of Presidents

Since today is Election Day (in Canada), it seemed a good opportunity to explain the game of Presidents, particularly for the new families who are hearing about this game from the students.

Presidents is a game about U.S. History in which a series of clues are given about a President and the goal is to identify him.  Presidents are identified by their number (Washington is #1, Obama is #44).

The players are each given a sheet giving the number of the President, his name, his years in office, his political party, and the year and state of his birth and death.

First, a "six-point clue" is read about the President.  Based on this, players choose whether to write down an answer or wait for more clues.  If the answer turns out to be right, they will get six points, but a wrong answer gets no points in Presidents.

Next, a "four-point clue" is read about the same President.  Players who haven't answered the six-point clue choose whether to answer or not -- this time getting four points if they are correct.

Then, a "two-point clue" is read.  Players who haven't answered yet answer now since it is the last chance for points.

Finally, the President is identified, scores are recorded, and the game moves on to the next President.

For some tips on studying for Presidents, have a look at an earlier post on the topic.

In high school, players have to know every President every year, but until then, the list is split in two.  The 2015/16 year covers Presidents #1-24 (Washington through Cleveland).

Thursday, October 15, 2015

2015-16 Captains

The team has spoken and captains for 2015-16 have been chosen.  This years Clague captains are (not in any particular order) Elizabeth, Benjamin, Eli, Rhea, and James.

Clague captains put in a lot of work leading their teams, so both congratulations and thanks are both in order.  This week was captaincy at its most aerobic, as we held a Challenge Match, wherein the captains move around the room answering questions for their teams. 

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Variations in Equations

So far this year in practice we have been working on Equations and Presidents.  For (Adventurous) Equations, after the cubes are rolled three Variations are chosen which affect how Goals and Solutions are composed.

These variations are different for Elementary (5th/6th grade) and Middle (7th/8th grade) and the list varies from year to year, so just about everyone on the team has new variations to learn each year.

We have now introduced all the variations (except "Multiple of k" for the Middles) and will be using them in our Friday tournaments right away.

You might want your own copy of the variation sheets, in which case have a look at the Michigan League of Academic Games website where you can find many useful items including the Elementary Variations Sheet and the Middle Variations Sheet.