Global Mystery Skype Challenge

Last week our 5th graders had their very first Global Mystery Skype Challenge. The objective of the call was to ask yes/no questions about location (i.e. directions, latitude, longitude, Equator, etc.) to determine where our partner class is. If the class answered yes to one of our questions, we were able to ask a follow- up question. But if they answered no, then our turn was up and we had to answer their questions. Although the rules are simple, the task itself was a lot more difficult than we expected!

To help us narrow down our partner class' location, we had assigned Skype jobs throughout the call. Here are some examples of our jobs:

1. Greeters & Inquirers- These students were responsible for greeting our class and asking our questions.
2. Map Keepers- These students had atlases and Google Maps available to narrow down the location based on clues.
3. Question Keepers- These students kept careful track of the questions asked and reported these to the Inquirers.
4. Logical Reasoners- These students were responsible for listening to the clues given and putting the pieces together to determine the exact location. They worked with the Question Keepers to construct questions.
5. Runners- These students were messengers who shared clues, questions, or tips between the Map Keepers and the Logical Reasoners. They also were responsible for giving the Inquirers our class' questions.

One of our Map Keepers hard at work. 

We worked as a team! 

Overall, this was perhaps one of the toughest Skype calls we ever had! We were thrilled when we guessed that our partner class was in Ontario, Canada! However, we got stuck trying to determine the exact city they were in. Although we were in the correct area, we figured out that we were too far south. Our friends did an awesome job of guessing where we were in the end. Since this call took longer than expected, we only got a few minutes to ask questions about ourselves. We hope that we can reconnect with our friends in Canada and thank them for taking the challenge with us!

Chatting with our new friends!