Class Information
Grade: 8–12 (students must be 13 or older to participate in this class)
Lesson timeframe: Two to three 40-minute class periods, depending on student familiarity with Fortnite Creative
Featured tool: Fortnite Creative
Class / learning environment: A Fortnite-capable device with a one-to-one device-to-student ratio, and with internet connectivity. A computer lab or mobile laptop cart should provide the ideal environment.
The author's classroom is a one-to-one classroom with iPads as the primary device. Students are asked to create videos and pictures from Fortnite Creative for the classroom. The author teaches both general education and special education students.
This lesson is designed to be used with or without access to Fortnite Creative mode in the classroom.
Author Contact
Author: Katie Wright
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @mrs_katiewright
Lesson Overview
Have you ever thought about how geography impacts the gaming experience? Geographical locations and preferences can significantly affect gameplay. Do you enjoy hiding out in a wooded forest or overlooking the landscape from high elevations?
In this lesson, students will dive deep into how the geography of a location and a player’s preferences can affect the outcome of the playing experiences. They will prioritize their wants while creating a game that is entertaining to their peers.
This lesson will help students build their feedback skills and promote collaboration on a schoolwide level.
Essential Questions/Big Ideas
How do our priorities affect our economic choices?
How does geography affect our priorities in our economic choices?
How does geography affect the allocation of resources?
Learning Outcomes/Objectives
Students will:
Demonstrate an understanding that geographical features affect the allocation of resources. Some resources are allocated naturally in our world and others are distributed by humans to maximize the experiences of a location’s people.
Think critically of geographical features and their influence on choices. The selection of the items in the chest tests the students ability to make rational choices based on their preferences.
Learning Activities
Hook: Which Resource Has More Value?
Ask students to rank the following resources with 1 being the most important thing to 5 being the least important.
Clean water
Renewable, clean energy
Building materials such a timber
Cotton
Seeds to plant a crop
Instructional Block 1(Independent/Group — 15 minutes)
Students begin by examining Meadow Island. On the board, the teacher will display a map of the island with an overlay of a grid. The grid will be labeled so that students can easily identify each square. Using a polling service (Socrative, Nearpod, Schoology), the instructor will ask students to pick the best place to jump into based on resources in the location (see picture below).
This will lead to a discussion as which one is the best.
Suggestion: Four corners with technology such as a discussion board in which each corner posts their defense.
Students will be asked to stand in the quadrant they believe is the best location to place a chest on the island. They can discuss as a group why they believe their location is the best. They will post their reason on a discussion board or use a whiteboard to summarize.
Extension: The instructor could extend this activity by adding what resources would be available in each square.
The instructor could add one resource at time and poll the class each time.
Fortnite unavailable: This part of the lesson can be done with or without Fortnite Creative.
Instructional Block 2 (Partner/Group — 20 minutes)
Students will work together in pairs. Students will choose their own island in Fortnite Creative mode. The instructor will ask students to record which island they are using.
Suggestion: Choose a set of islands rather than the whole catalog. This will make it easier to grade, as you will be looking at multiple islands.
After students choose their island, ask them to pick four items (at the teacher’s discretion) to put into two different chests. A chest is a large box that can be filled with items from their resources. The quantity of each of the four items does not matter, but keep it to just four items to choose from.
Suggestion: You can change the amount of items from four to any number. I chose four because it’s more manageable.
For example:
Chest 1: dynamite, wood
Chest 2: metal, brick
Students will record which items are in each chest, and where those chests are located. For example, students may write Chest 1: dynamite and wood in quadrant A2. This will be recorded on the maps provided below.
The instructor will need to draw the quadrants. The instructor will decide how many times the island is divided.
For example, the instructor may decide to divide the map in four areas or six areas. Suggestion: I would do this multiple times, with different resources each time. This will force the conversation of which item has a higher “value” to players.
Each partnership will take a turn showing their selected items and explaining where their items are placed. This will allow the players to know ahead of time where everything is located. After the explanation, students will switch devices. This is necessary to allow for them to play on each other’s islands.
Once students have dropped into their area and have their chests, they will be tasked with building a structure.
The first round will be a simple structure of a fort, with four walls and two watchtowers. Students may only use the items in the chest and on the island. The first group to complete this task wins. This can be changed to have the developers of the island vote on which fort appears to be the easiest to defend.
As students drop into the game, they will make a note of which chest/area they chose to drop near.
After students play the game, they will explain why they chose that area to drop into. They will reflect on whether on that choice affected the outcome of the game.
Suggestion: If they choose to drop in to the same location, this can lead to a more in-depth conversation. The developer of the game will need to think about how they can make both locations desirable to players.
Students will switch groups and exchange devices again. They will repeat the process again, and complete the short graphic organizer. The structures they build should change each time.
Fortnite unavailable: Using this video, students will use four islands for this activity. Students will also use a limited number of devices.
You can find a list of resources using Fortnite Gamepedia. The video gives students an overview of each island. Using the maps provided, students will indicate in which area they would place their chest. Students will also explain which items would go into the chests.
Students will then do a gallery walk in which they would see each other’s maps. Students would be asked to vote which area they would jump into based on the map. The polling can be done using any device, or simply asking students to leave a tally mark on a piece of paper next to the map. Once students are done, they can see which area had the most votes.
This can be done in several rounds, or at one time, depending on the depth of understanding the instructor wishes to create. After the gallery walk is complete, they will reflect on why most people voted for that particular area.
They will share their idea using any platform the teacher prefers. I suggest using Flipgrid or a discussion.
Extension: As mentioned in the assessment portion, adding a budget to this lesson could be used as an extension into more economic analysis. It is not necessary, but it could create meaningful economic conversations.
External Resources
Fortnite available:
Computer or device that can run Fortnite software
Maps created using the pictures below
Analysis of choices worksheet (see below)
Fortnite unavailable:
Maps created using the pictures below
Video that shows islands students should use
Photos and descriptions of resources
Assessment
Low-Stakes Formative
Students will create a survey using a format in which they would survey the school. They would include a list of specific resources from Creative. The survey would ask their peers which items they prefer to see in a chest.
Suggestion: If technology is available, ask students to create a Google Forms sheet they could share with their homerooms or with a particular group of students. This can be as large as the whole school or as small as a group of six. Regardless of the size, students will receive feedback from each on their preferences.
They will also use one of the maps provided of the islands to survey students as to where the chest should be located on the island to maximize their experience.
Taking the data collected from their peers, pairs of students (partners) will then create an island with the items placed in the location preferred.
Students will be assigned to a group of no more than six students (three sets of partners). Each student will take turns playing each other’s games using each other’s devices.
After students play each other’s games by exchanging devices and receiving feedback from their peers, students will record a self-reflection video in which they will answer the following questions:
What affected your choices in the items that you chose for your chest? Was it all the student survey or your own preferences?
What affected your choices in the placement of your chest? Was it all the student survey or your own preferences?
How did the geographical features of the island affect your placement of the chest?
How would you improve your island?
If you had to vote for one other group to have the best game, who would it be?
Using the rubric, the instructor will grade the self reflections. The game is not the assessment, but the self reflection should tap into each standard.
Fortnite unavailable: Students can still complete this activity using the maps below as well as the Fortnite Gamepedia. They can use the maps and draw where they would place the items selected. They can analyze each other’s maps and complete the self-reflection process.
Extension: The teacher could create a spreadsheet that puts a numeric value on any device, weapon, and item. This will give students a specific budget they must work from to build the most entertaining island.
Rubric
Use the downloadable rubric for assessing student work.
Standards Mapping
NCSS Theme Strand VII: Production, Distribution, & Consumption Students will gather and analyze data, as well as use critical thinking skills to determine how best to deal with scarcity of resources.
NCSS Theme Strand III: People, Places and Environments The study of people, places, and environments enables us to understand the relationship between human populations and the physical world.
ISTE Standard 7a Students use digital tools to connect with learners from a variety of backgrounds and cultures, engaging with them in ways that broaden mutual understanding and learning.
Interdisciplinary and 21st Century Connections
Indicate the 21st century skills that are addressed in this lesson. More information on 21st Century Skills — from Applied Educational Systems
This lesson addresses a student’s ability to think critically of the environments in which they are examining. They will need to be able to clearly articulate their reasoning for their while proving their other choices are not sound.
This lesson requires students to collaborate in a meaningful way by examining each other’s choices and deciding which is the best for all students. This lesson does lend itself to being expanded into Math and Geography lessons by using proportions and scales for their forts.
This lesson also requires students to practice meaningful feedback. This feedback is essential to improving their games and the experiences of each other. This feedback may be provided using a digital platform, or may be on paper. Regardless of the delivery, it will require them to clearly articulate the areas of improvement and state the positive attributes of the games.
Modifications and Accommodations
Students who need accommodations will need more time to provide responses. Number and chunking of the assignment will provide students a clear outline of which item comes next.
Students who excel at the building aspects of Fortnite and finish quickly can also be given the opportunity to screen-capture a walkthrough of their timeline in game and provide voiceover to their video.
Extra time or guidance should be provided to students who have never played Fortnite to allow them to become accustomed to the controls. Refer them to the resources below.
Be flexible. Students may need an extra class to complete their timeline.
Provide game controllers or adaptive controllers based on individual student needs.
Additional Teaching Materials
You can download the following printable PDF documents for lesson support:
A PDF version of this lesson plan.
A GOAT Getaway student handout for students.
A rubric for grading student projects.