Have your students signed up for individual accounts? If you have a school-wide subscription to BrainPOP, students will be able to use our SnapThought ® tool to play the Crystal Cave game!

SnapThought allows students to capture meaningful moments in their game play with opportunities for brief written reflection. To use the tool, start by making sure students are logged into My BrainPOP with their own individual accounts. Once students are logged in, the SnapThought tool will appear below any games that offer this capability.

During game play, students can click the SnapThought tool up to five times. A thumbnail, or “snapshot” is generated and stored on the bottom left of the screen.  At any point in the game, students can click their snapshot(s), type a brief reflection, which may be a response to an open-ended prompt, and save or submit to the teacher’s account for you to review and respond to.

You can use the SnapThought tool to facilitate discussion around game play and strategies, or have students submit their snapshots to you for assessment or accountability. Here are a few ideas and prompts for using the SnapThought tool in the Crystal Cave game.

  • Before you play the first level, take a snapshot. What do you already know about crystals and the crystalline structure?  
  • Take a snapshot when you run into a challenge. Explain what the problem is and how you’ve tried to solve it.
  • Take a snapshot when you successfully complete a level. Describe how you were able to successfully arrange the molecules.
  • Take a snapshot when you place a molecule and explain why you put it where you did.
Filed as:  Crystal Cave