Exotrex2: The Scientific Space Adventure Game Continues!
Exotrex 2 is a beautifully rendered, STEM focused game that will challenge and engage your 8th – 10th grade science students.
The Story of ExoTrex 2
Life on Earth is no longer sustainable. Due to this fact, you must venture into space to find a new home for humanity.
Gameplay begins as you arrive at the Mars orbital station, ready to put the astronaut training from Exotrex 1 into practice. From the start, you must explore an in-depth solar system map to learn about the planets, moons and asteroids as well as their relative distances from each other. Then, you must choose between three missions- exploring Mercury, Venus and Titan. Only by demonstrate your resourcefulness will you be able to find that new home for humanity. Now’s the best time to start the second phase of your scientific space adventure!
FOR EDUCATORS
While completing these missions, students will start by balancing speed, thrust, and acceleration while navigating gravitational fields to successfully land rovers on their chosen planet or moon. They will remotely navigate their rovers to collect ground and atmospheric samples and later analyze them for their chemical compositions. Students will also learn about the planetary characteristics of each destination and take observational notes.
No space mission would be complete without a life-threatening emergency and Exotrex2 delivers! Students will be challenged to reboot their life-support systems while engaging with thermal, kinetic and electrical energies in a race against time!
The ExoTrex™ game has a series of fun facts on chemistry and planetary science presented by the character Dr. Burke during the game play. These fun facts with the voice over by Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi are a great way to engage the classroom on a daily basis when preparing to use the game or in your lesson planning. You can view them all on our YouTube Fun Facts Playlist
Grades: 8th-10th
Platform: Web-based game supported on most browsers. See device support below.
Key Features
- Open-ended solar system map and Distance Simulator – Use for demonstration purposes or assign students to explore on their own.
- Aligned to NGSS Standards.
- Narrative long-form version corresponds to lesson plan support.
- All mini games can be accessed through Missions option for repeated play and practice.
- Engaging animated transition videos.
Curricular Supports
Download the following materials to aid in your integration of Exotrex2 into your course of study. Due to its nature, ExoTrex 2 is able to fit in to a wide variety of curriculum and classroom types.
- Exo2 Overview – A detailed explanation of the mission, background and connection to Exotrex1 as well as the learning objectives and standards of all 9 mini-games and their corresponding standards.
- 1. Exotrex Lesson 2.1 – Solar System Exploration – Have your students explore the extent of the interactive solar system map and Distance Simulator to learn about various planetary characteristics and relative distances between planets and moons. A student handout is included to record new findings and observations. Discussion prompts are also included.
- 2. Exotrex Lesson 2.2- Planetary Explorations – Students will complete three missions in which they interact with Mercury, Venus and Titan. This lesson explains each mission in detail, gives insight into what students will be learning and also connects to each standard. Student handouts are provided for students to complete while playing the game.
- 3. Exotrex Lesson 2.2a- Mercury Mission – Accompanying Student Handout
- 4. Exotrex Lesson 2.2b- Venus Mission – Accompanying Student Handout
- 5. Exotrex2 AnswerKey 2.2c- Titan Mission – Accompanying Student Handout
- 6. Exotrex Lesson 2.2d- Electrical Emergency – Accompanying Student Handout
Exotrex2 Lesson 2.2 Answer Guides
Each handout includes student answers for lesson 2.2 including discussion prompts for debriefing with students and an essay prompt facilitating cross game analysis.
- 1. Exotrex2 Lesson 2.2 AnswerKey- Essay Prompt.
- 2. Exotrex2 AnswerKey 2.2a- Mercury Mission.
- 3. Exotrex Lesson AnswerKey 2.2b- Venus Mission.
- 4. Exotrex2 AnswerKey 2.2c- Titan Mission.
- 5. Exotrex Lesson 2.2d- AnswerKey -Electrical Emergency.
This game is compatible on most recent HTML 5 browsers. It has been tested on the following desktop/laptop browsers:
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Safari (on Mac computers)
Chromebook compatible: Most
Mobile Device compatibility using mobile browsers:
- Ipad Series 3 : Yes
- Ipad Series 2: No
- Iphone: No
- Android tablets: Varied Support – Requires min 1GB Memory
Standards:
Next Generation Science Standards
MS-PS-1.1 Develop models to describe the atomic composition of simple molecules and extended structures.
MS-PS-2.1 – Apply Newton’s Third Law to design a solution to a problem involving the motion of two colliding objects.
MS-PS-2.4 Construct and present arguments using evidence to support the claim that gravitational interactions are attractive and depend on the masses of interacting objects.
MS-PS-3.4 Plan an investigation to determine the relationships among the energy transferred, the type of matter, the mass, and the change in the average kinetic energy of the particles as measured by the temperature of the sample.
MS-ESS – 1.3: Analyze and interpret data to determine scale properties of objects in the solar system.
MS-ESS – 2.4 Develop a model to describe the cycling of water through Earth’s systems driven by energy from the sun and the force of gravity.
Common Core State ELA Standards
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.
