Teaching and Learning
in the Digital World

Interactive Web Pages: Action Mazes

Deborah Healey, dhealey AT uoregon DOT edu

This was originally part of the 2000 Culpeper Workshop at the University of Puget Sound.

An action maze is a kind of "create your own adventure" story. Students are given a scenario, and must make a choice. As a result of that choice, they are faced with the next phase of the story. This is a wonderful tool for presenting ethical dilemmas and their outcomes, as well as for language study -- the results of an inappropriate choice of word in a foreign language or culturally inappropriate action can be dramatic and memorable.

One of the better-known action mazes for language learners comes from Martin Holmes, called the Evil Landlady Action Maze.

Some student-created mazes are at the Quandary website at http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary_tutorials_examples.php.

A free version of Quandary, software used to help make your own action maze, is at http://www.halfbakedsoftware.com/quandary.php. This is originally from the University of Victoria, like Hot Potatoes.

Consider: How might your students use an action maze? Would it be better for you to create one or for them to do it?

Try it: Work through the Evil Landlady Action Maze and think about how you might construct an action maze for your class.

 

Go to the Interactive Web Pages home page.

https://deborahhealey.com/ups/actionmaze.html
Updated November 2, 2009 by Deborah Healey, dhealey AT uoregon DOT edu
Copyright 2009, Deborah Healey