Behind the curtain

A strange and funny development that I can laugh about now....just.

The last mission involving the funny code got the kids working hard. I had set up another teacher to be the source of the crack of the code but I underestimated how smart my students are.

The code was a simple caesar cypher - all the letters moved forward 14 places. My kids started working on the code by using a number of interesting strategies:
(1) Pick the common letter
(2) Guess a word from context
(3) pick small words

As it turned out not one student needed to talk to the teacher I had set up to play a role in the ARG - and he was very disappointed because he likes that sort of caper. They all worked it out in teams using their own intellect. To be honest I was really proud of them - and I am trying not to be bitter about the time it took me to plan that puzzle. Still, I'd recommend it to other designers of ARGs in schools.

The mission itself involves the kids finding 3 pictures from the web that are at least 150years old and epitomise the bushido code as they understand it. I am trying to wed a bit of visual literacy to their comprehnsion of the code by which the samurai lived. It has been great to see how they are attempting this; some through art, some through photos (rare) others by sculpture. Intriguing!

Now, the BIG news. One of my students found THIS blog.

Bugger. They were pretty proud of themselves, I can tell you! They now know EVERYTHING about the ARG and although my last post said that in a way them knowing this is all a game doesn't make it less fun, I can't help but feel a little disappointed. But, that student has promised to keep quiet until it is all over but if I had my time again I would have hidden this blog a little better to prevent this. How did he find it? Via Classroom 2.0? no. He googled "Dr Frank Tonkin" - and because I made that name up - this is where google took him.

If I was doing this again, I would call one of the NPCs a name like Brad Pitt or somesuch; somthing that google will have a few million options for!

So, has the game changed at all because of exposure? I can't say yet, but it is an interesting development!