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Backyard Mini-Golf Message Challenge

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Backyard Mini-Golf Message Challenge

Compare patterns and predict which messages will get through.

Learn the Message Systems

Read the investigation and code key. Use them throughout the worksheet.

Messages Across the Course

Sana's club built a backyard mini-golf course with foam balls and cups. Players needed to send four messages across the lawn without walking over. The club compared two ways to send information: cards with shape patterns and patterns of taps on a wooden block. A receiver used a printed key to figure out each message.

Each card showed two shapes side by side. The sender held the whole card still for four beats while the receiver read the shapes from left to right. For the tapping method, the receiver listened to two taps in order. A short tap lasted one beat. A long tap lasted three beats. There was one silent beat between the two taps.

A beat was the same length for everyone. To find the time for one tapping message, the club counted both taps and the silent beat between them. After either kind of message, the sender waited four more silent beats before starting another message. Those extra beats separated messages and were not counted as part of the sending time.

The club tested each method in quiet conditions and then while helpers clapped nearby at a comfortable volume. In every trial, the sender sent the same list of 20 messages. The sender, receiver, distance, lighting, message order, and code keys stayed the same. The receiver could see the cards clearly. The club changed the method and the background sound, then counted how many messages the receiver identified correctly.

The graph later on this sheet shows the club's results. The club also wondered what would happen if the receiver looked away, if a sender reused a pattern, or if the game needed a fifth message. Use the code key and test evidence to investigate those questions.

Code key
Bring a ball: circle–circle card OR short–long taps
Bring a club: triangle–circle card OR long–short taps
Start your turn: circle–triangle card OR short–short taps
Pause the game: triangle–triangle card OR long–long taps
1.
The sender holds up this card. What should the receiver do? Read from left to right.
Question 1 options
2.
The receiver hears short–short, then four silent beats, then long–long. Which two messages were sent, in order?
Question 2 options
3.
A receiver counts the shapes on each card but ignores their order. Why will this cause a problem?
Question 3 options
4.
Compare the sending times for “Pause the game.” Count only the message itself, not the four silent beats afterward.

The long–long tapping message takes beats. That is more beats than holding up the card.

Investigate the Test Results

Each bar shows correct messages out of 20 attempts. “Clap” means helpers were clapping during the trial.

The Club's Message Test024681012141618Quiet: cardsQuiet: tapsClap: cardsClap: tapsTest condition and methodCorrect messages
5.

During clapping, how many more messages were received correctly with cards than with taps? more messages

6.
Which claim about the quiet trials is supported by the graph?
Question 6 options
7.
Select the TWO statements that correctly compare the quiet and clapping trials.

8.
The club next wants to find out whether greater distance affects tapping accuracy. Which test would best answer that question?
Question 8 options
9.
During a quiet game, the receiver looks down at a ball and cannot see the sender's card. Which prediction is best supported?
Question 9 options

Predict and Improve

Use the code rules and test results to judge changes to the message systems.

10.
The club adds “Return to the first cup” to its card key. It uses triangle–triangle for this new message and keeps all four old messages. What problem should the club predict?
Question 10 options
11.
In quiet conditions, the two methods had equal accuracy. For sending “Start your turn,” which method takes less time? Count only the message itself.
Question 11 options
12.
Helpers will clap again during the next game, and the receiver will be able to see the sender clearly. Which method would you recommend for getting messages through correctly? Compare both methods using numbers from the graph and explain your prediction.
13.
The club needs FIVE different card messages. Design A keeps exactly two shapes per card, using only circles and triangles. Design B uses exactly three shapes per card, still using only circles and triangles. Which design allows five different patterns without reusing one? Explain, and write five patterns that show your design works. You may use C for circle and T for triangle.