Playing Orbit in the classroom

Getting started

1. Sign up for a free teacher account.
2. Download, install and review the game and the Orbit Teachers’ Guide.
3. Seek the appropriate permissions to run Orbit with your class (eg. Principal, parents of your students, School Board, Parents’ Association).
4. Set up a game account for each student. See Administering Orbit to find out how.
5. Install the Orbit game on the computers your students will use.

In the Classroom

We recommend you use the game alongside the learning activities provided in the Teachers’ Guide. You may also choose to use some of the extra optional classroom activities. The table below outlines the approximate play-time required per chapter of Orbit, the time required for the corresponding Teachers’ Guide class learning activity and the mini-games that are played in each chapter.

Game Chapter	Approx. play-time per player	Teachers’ Guide class learning activity	Mini-games played in each chapter
			Robot Factory	Need to Tell Machine	Speak Up	Surveillance Footage
Prologue & Chapter 1	1h	40mins
Chapter 2	1h	40mins
Chapter 3	1h 40mins	20mins
Chapter 4	1h 20mins	20mins
Chapter 5 & Epilogue	1h	20mins

Notes:

The symbol indicates that this mini-game has been designed for side-by-side play (two players at one computer).

The Speak Up mini-game has been specially designed to be played with trusted adults. You may like to suggest your students replay these levels at home with their parents/caregivers or other trusted adults.

If some students are struggling with phase 2 of the Need to Tell Machine mini-game (the rhythm-game section), you may like to suggest that they play side-by-side with another student, with each student taking charge of two keys on the computer keyboard.

Number of weeks to spend on the game

We suggest the entire game be played over 5 – 10 week period. Each chapter should be completed in order. Player progress is automatically saved so it is not necessary to complete a whole chapter in one sitting.

Trusted adults

Trusted adult information slip

In each of the five chapters of the game, the player will be asked to identify a trusted adult. Each time the player does this, a code will be displayed on the screen. This code can be given to the trusted adult so that they can log in to the trusted adult section of this website. To facilitate this, we have designed a trusted adult information slip on which the student can write their trusted adult’s code. Please have these slips available for the students as they play the game.

Early finishers

Some students may finish a chapter early. There are in-game activities for these early finishers. These include:

Visiting the spaceships of other players in your class (only works in the loungeroom).

Decorating their bedroom and the living room (works in loungeroom or bedroom).

Replaying mini-games and playing bonus levels of mini-games.

Changing the appearance of the player avatar (only works in the bathroom or bedroom).

Modifying the appearance of their trusted adults.

Adding to their or their classmates “I am Good At” board (works in lounge room).