Worksheet

Backyard Mini-Golf Message Challenge

Compare shape and tapping codes at a backyard mini-golf course. Use test results to predict success and improve a message system.

Grade 4ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to4-PS4-3

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What’s included

Single worksheet
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1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
13 questions
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Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 4
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students interpret shape and tapping patterns that carry messages.
Students compare communication methods using accuracy data and sending time.
Students predict how conditions and code changes affect the information a receiver gets.

How to use

Read the rules and practice one code together. Have students use the graph and code key to compare methods, then explain their design choices.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

4-PS4-3

Compare ways of using patterns, such as codes, to send information.

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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

The sender holds up this card. What should the receiver do? Read from left to right.

A. Bring a ball.
B. Bring a club.
C. Start your turn.
D. Pause the game.

The receiver hears short–short, then four silent beats, then long–long. Which two messages were sent, in order?

A. Bring a ball; bring a club.
B. Pause the game; start your turn.
C. Bring a club; bring a ball.
D. Start your turn; pause the game.

A receiver counts the shapes on each card but ignores their order. Why will this cause a problem?

A. Every card has two shapes but carries a different message.
B. Every card needs four shapes to carry a complete message.
C. Counting shapes changes how long the sender holds a card.
D. Counting shapes makes circle–circle mean pause the game.

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.

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

Which claim about the quiet trials is supported by the graph?

A. Both methods got every message through correctly.
B. Cards got twice as many messages through as taps.
C. Neither method got every message through correctly.
D. Taps got two more messages through than cards.

Select the TWO statements that correctly compare the quiet and clapping trials.

Correct tapping messages fell from 18 to 8.Correct card messages fell from 18 to 8.Correct card messages stayed at 18.Correct tapping messages rose from 8 to 18.

The club next wants to find out whether greater distance affects tapping accuracy. Which test would best answer that question?

A. Repeat farther apart with louder clapping nearby.
B. Repeat farther apart with all other conditions unchanged.
C. Repeat farther apart with a different tapping code.
D. Repeat at the same distance with all conditions unchanged.

During a quiet game, the receiver looks down at a ball and cannot see the sender's card. Which prediction is best supported?

A. Cards should work better because the lawn is quiet.
B. Both should work equally well without seeing the card.
C. Neither should work because both require seeing shapes.
D. Taps should work better because the receiver can listen.

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?

A. The receiver cannot tell which of two meanings was intended.
B. The receiver must read every old card from right to left.
C. The sender must hold every card for eight beats instead.
D. The sender cannot use any cards with circles anymore.

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.

A. Cards: they take 4 beats, while taps take 7 beats.
B. Cards: they take 2 beats, while taps take 3 beats.
C. Taps: they take 3 beats, while cards take 4 beats.
D. Taps: they take 2 beats, while cards take 4 beats.

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.