Hot Air Balloon Game: SnapThought Prompts

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 Hot Air Balloon game!

The SnapThought tool 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 Hot Air Balloon game.

• Before playing the game in “Free” game, take a snapshot. What do you already know about hot air balloons? What is one question you have about how hot air balloons work?
• Hold down the “Burn” button until the balloon lifts off the ground. Take a snapshot. What changed as you filled the balloon with hot air? What stayed the same? Explain why you think this happened.
• In the “Standard” game, take a snapshot of your furthest flight. What did you do differently to gain a greater a distance than previous attempts.
• In the “Refuel” game, take a snapshot after a failed attempt. What strategy should you have used? What was your error?
• In the “Free” game, take a snapshot after adjusting balloon volume. How does volume affect the rate of buoyancy?