Why-Texas

More and more clams!

The classes are doing great at earning clams for the Whyville Texas Challenge. In fact, some classes are wondering how some of the other classes are getting so many clams in such a short period. In addition to being incredibly motivated classes, they are probably using one of these strategies:

• The students are also playing the games at home.
• Using teamwork on the Whack-a-virus and WingFling games can allow you to rack up lots of points -- divide up the tasks and the game can go on for a long time. The longer the WingFling game goes on, the faster the parts come, and the more clams each part is worth.
• Maximize the salary clams. A few of the games actually award salary clams. Those clams are great because every day that the student signs in, they get those clams -- just for showing up.(Then make sure the student signs in every day, even if they don't play!) These games include the Virus Design Game, Vaccine Design Game, and PlaneWorks CAD.

Good whacking and flinging!

Texashome

Great start!

Congratulations for a great start to the competition. We have 15 teams racking up clams in the Biotech Challenge, and 33 teams in the PlaneWorks Challenge! Dennis from Waco has been (can I say this?) "trash talking" about how great his teams are gonna do, and they are, but not without some competition from Chuck's class at Springfield ISD.

Some of you have asked "How'd they get so many clams so fast?" The answer - clam salary! Students can earn clam salary every day they log in, based on accomplishment in the Bioplex and in PlaneWorks. So earn clams - and get your clam salary up as well! And have your students log in every day.

How are your students doing?! Let us hear from you - email us at support@why-texas.com or click on the "Tell Us" link on the home page.

Thanks, WhySoul

Hint from a competitor!

As you know, this is a friendly competition. So, from time to time, we will share hints that we receive from the field. This is a good one from Dennis:

I'm putting a little twist for the groups...each group can have up to 35 members, so the classes are required to "recruit" members to their teams.  They understand that only the first 35 entrants will count, so they are collaborating to recruit working members.

We are anxious to see the first day's results when they are posted tomorrow morning!

Texashome

Ready, Set, Go!

Hey There,

This is WhySoul, a City Worker at Whyville and one of the hosts of the competition. The competition is live! Best of luck to all the classes participating.

If you have any questions or comments, click on "Tell Us What You're Thinking" on the home page, or email us at support@why-texas.com.

Any questions about getting your students started? Try http://why-texas.com/texaschallenge/get_started.php. You can also reach this from the Competition Home Page.

Stay tuned here for more tips and tricks about being successful in the competition.

Good luck!

Welcome! And getting your students started ...

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the Whyville Texas Challenge! Here are some hints to get your students started in the competition.

FOR STUDENTS (OR YOU!) TO PRACTICE:

1. Have them click the "Practice" links on the home page! This is just practicing - they are not competing yet.

STUDENT SIGN-UP:

1. Pass on the promotion code/s you received when signing up your classes for the competition.

2. Send students to www.why-texas.com and have them click on the "Preseason," "Game Start May 5" or "Competition Home" graphic.

3. Have them follow the instructions to sign up as a student.

FOR STUDENTS TO COMPETE:

1. DO NOT click on the practice links on the home page. This is practicing - not competing!

2. INSTEAD, send your students to www.whyville.net and have them sign in.

3. Have them go to Bioplex or PlaneWorks from the Bus menu (literally, look for the menu under the Bus!).

TOMORROW - How to see your student's scores ...
Download winmail.dat

More prizes!

There are many new teachers signing up for the challenge each day. This promises to be a lively competition!

Now there are prizes for students also. Any student who refers their teacher to enter the Whyville Texas Challenge will receive 2500 clams in their Whyville account (however those clams do not count toward the challenge). In addition, all students in the first place classes will receive a virtual Scion to drive around in Whyville -- this is over a 25,000 clam value!

Next blog -- Hints for increasing clam scores!

Texashome 

May Competition!

The excitement is building for the Whyville Texas Challenge that begins May 5. Eleven classes throughout the state of Texas have signed up and are practicing now. One class has over 26,000 clams (!) accumulated in the Advanced Manufacturing challenge. These won't count in the competition, of course, but this class will be well-practiced.

Some teachers are running into a block on Whyville by their district IT filters. They can still compete -- they just have the students enter and play on their home computers.