SIMCC Games · Teacher guide
Orchard
Grow an orchard from one tree to ten billion apples, and learn how growth really works.
- Trains
- Rates: price ÷ apples a second · Dividing and comparing · Large numbers and standard form
- Ages
- 9 and up
- In class
- On your own. One device each. Switch to Best buy cards and choose First steps: four teaching cards. The orchard itself takes 45 minutes or more, so keep it for home.
A ten-minute starter
- Show about 2 minA picker costs 15 apples and adds 0.5 apples a second. A tree costs 100 and adds 3. Payback is price ÷ apples a second: 30 seconds for the picker, about 33 for the tree. The picker pays for itself first.
- Play about 6 minStudents open Best buy cards, finish First steps, then try Lower Division: three buys with whole-number paybacks.
- Talk about 2 minAsk: is the cheapest buy always best? Is the one that adds the most? (On Middle Division cards, neither ever is.)
Questions to ask the class
- A cart costs 1,100 apples and adds 20 a second. What is its payback?Listen for: 55 seconds: 1,100 ÷ 20.
- Two buys cost the same. Which do you choose?Listen for: The one that adds more apples a second.
- An upgrade doubles your 12 carts, which make 20 a second each. What does it add?Listen for: 240 apples a second: 12 × 20 more.
A common mistake
Choosing the cheapest buy, or the biggest, without working out the payback.
How to help: Ask them to divide price by apples a second for every buy and compare. The first hint names the method; the second works one wrong buy out in full.
Assign it
On the coach dashboard, choose your class under Cohorts. In Assign practice, pick Orchard and the drill First steps or Best buy, add a due date if you want one, then press Assign. Students find it on their Train page.
Both open the Best buy cards, not the orchard.
Results show on the dashboard by student and by game once the server has checked them.