Game Builder: How High Can It Jump?
Students open a jump test level with ten stone pillars, 1 to 10 tiles tall, and measure the tallest pillar the player can stand on at five Jump Power values. Most of them predict that doubling the jump will double the height; the table says it nearly quadruples it. By the end, they can say why the table is not proportional, and predict the effect of gravity before they test it.
At a glance
Essential question
If a game character jumps twice as hard, does it jump twice as high?
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- measure the tallest pillar a player can reach at a Jump Power, changing only that one number between tests
- record measurements in a table and find the ratio of height to Jump Power for each row
- decide whether height is proportional to Jump Power, using equal or unequal ratios as the evidence
- use the table to choose the Jump Power a wall of a given height needs, and say how to check it in the game
Vocabulary
variable, Jump Power, gravity, tile, fair test, ratio, proportional
Standards
7.RP.A.2a, 2-DA-08, 2-AP-17, RST.6-8.3
Time and materials
45 minutes, grades 6-8.
- One computer or Chromebook per student or pair, with a keyboard
- A projector
- The worksheet and exit ticket, one copy each per student
- A calculator, or the one on the computer
- The rubric, one copy per student if you grade the worksheet
Prep
Make copies of the worksheet and exit ticket. Before class, open mytekdev.com/try/gamemaker?lesson=how-high-can-it-jump&ref=tpt-gamebuilder-2 once on a student computer to see the Jump Test level and to check that your school's filter allows it. No account is needed. If you want the numbers in hand, the answer key has every measurement: the game gives the same result every time.
Assessment
- Formative: the questions under What to look for, asked while students work, and the exit ticket (answer key included).
- Summative: the completed worksheet, scored with the rubric out of 12.
Technology and privacy
Runs in any browser, Chromebooks included, with nothing to install. Students need no account and no email: the link works signed out, and nothing they make is stored on our server unless they choose to save it to an account. If your school blocks new sites, ask IT to allow mytekdev.com.
What’s included
- A one-page overview: objectives, essential question, vocabulary, standards and assessment
- A ten-minute walkthrough to rehearse before class, and background in plain words for the teacher
- A 45-minute lesson sequence: warm-up, direct instruction, guided practice, independent practice, closure
- Slides for the board: a PowerPoint file that also opens in Google Slides
- A student worksheet with a QR code and a data table
- A 3-question exit ticket, two to a page, with an answer key
- A rubric: 3 criteria, 4 levels, scored out of 12
- Differentiation for English learners, students with IEPs or 504 plans, and students who need more support or more challenge
- Cross-curricular extensions, and notes for teaching it in grades 4-5 and 9-12
- Standards: CSTA 2017, Common Core math and Common Core literacy
Standards
The math standard is the center of this lesson: students test a table for equal ratios. The CSTA 2017 standards cover collecting data with a computational tool and testing one value at a time.
| Framework | Code | Grades | Standard | How the lesson meets it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common Core Math | 7.RP.A.2a | 7 | Decide whether two quantities are in a proportional relationship, e.g., by testing for equivalent ratios in a table or graphing on a coordinate plane and observing whether the graph is a straight line through the origin. | Students fill a table of Jump Power and height, divide to find each ratio, and decide from the unequal ratios that height is not proportional to Jump Power. |
| CSTA 2017 | 2-DA-08 | 6-8 | Collect data using computational tools and transform the data to make it more useful and reliable. | Students collect heights by testing in the game, then turn each measurement into a ratio they can compare. |
| CSTA 2017 | 2-AP-17 | 6-8 | Systematically test and refine programs using a range of test cases. | Students test a range of Jump Power values, changing one number at a time and keeping every other setting the same. |
| Common Core Literacy | RST.6-8.3 | 6-8 | Follow precisely a multistep procedure when carrying out experiments, taking measurements, or performing technical tasks. Craft and Structure: | Students follow the worksheet's measuring procedure exactly (stand against the pillar, hold right, press Space once) for every Jump Power. |
Checked October 2026 against: Common Core State Standards, Grade 7 Ratios and Proportional Relationships, CSTA 2017 progression chart, Common Core State Standards, Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects, grades 6-8.