In this project students created a deck of “pokémon”-inspired cards about animals of their choice, focusing on the specific characteristics and adaptations that allow their animal to survive in their environment. The cards were designed so they could actually be played against each other in pokémon-style games! To research their animals, students worked with the San Diego Zoo, and read non-fiction texts (most notably the “Who Would Win?” book series). In addition to creating the ANIMON card, students wrote an informational essay and created a “chant” for their animal to be used during game play to raise morale.
Animon was co-designed and led by two 11th grade interns from High Tech High North County, Audra ‘Alex’ Gomez, and Jessica Ramirez Cruz.
Teacher Reflection
My teaching partners and I noticed that our students LOVED playing pokémon… So we decided to harness that and create our own kind of pokémon cards.
I learned that in order to make teaching and learning meaningful you have to take what the students really like and turn that into something that allows students to develop core academic skills.Once we realized how much our students like animals and harnessed that, they were excited to learn more, and that’s what makes the learning engaging!
We worked so long and hard on it, and they put so much effort into it, and exhibition felt like a celebration of all we’d achieved together! To this day it is my favorite project because the students made it meaningful and impactful to our community.
—Gigi Neidiffer
Student Reflection
I took a lot of time on drawing my animal so I wouldn’t get in a rush and get frustrated. It was good being able to show the parents what we worked on in the project.
—Ryan
I thought it was really cool that I was able to choose a tiger because that’s one of my favorite wild animals, and it’s just super fun to be able to learn about one of my favorite animals. This was the most fun exhibition we did.
—Kennedy
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