QR Challenge: Viking ships

Created using the ClassTools QR Treasure Hunt Generator

Teacher Notes

A. Prior to the lesson:

1. Arrange students into groups. Each group needs at least ONE person who has a mobile device.

2. If their phone camera doesn't automatically detect and decode QR codes, ask students to

• Download a QR reader (e.g. I-Nigma | NeoReader | Kaywa) onto their mobile devices
• Bring these devices into the lesson.

3. Print out the QR codes.

4. Cut them out and place them around your class / school.

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B. The lesson:

1. Give each group a clipboard and a piece of paper so they can write down the decoded questions and their answers to them.

2. Explain to the students that the codes are hidden around the school. Each team will get ONE point for each question they correctly decode and copy down onto their sheet, and a further TWO points if they can then provide the correct answer and write this down underneath the question.

3. Away they go! The winner is the first team to return with the most correct answers in the time available. This could be within a lesson, or during a lunchbreak, or even over several days!

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C. TIPS / OTHER IDEAS

4. A detailed case study in how to set up a successful QR Scavenger Hunt using this tool can be found here.

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Questions / Answers (teacher reference)

Question	Answer
1. The Vikings built longships for war and raiding.	1.
2. The ships were sometime called 'dragon ships'.	2.
3. The front of the ship had a carved figure in the shaped of a dragon or sea serpent to scare the enemy.	3.
4. The ships were long and narrow for travelling quickly through water.	4.
5. Viking ships were built from oak and sometimes pine.	5
6. The Vikings were expert ship builders.	6
7. Ships were built for exploring, trade, combat, raids, transportation and fishing.	7
8. The ships wooden frames were planked (clinker style) and held in position with iron rivets, gaps were filled and sealed with animal hair or wool mixed with tar to make the ship waterproof.	8
9. Viking Ships were equipped with oars and sails; they were steered by a steering oar at the back of the boat.	9
10. The sails were square in shape and made from either wool or linen and patterned with a stripe or diamond design.	10.
11. In bad weather the sails were sometimes lowered over the ship and fastened to shield the sailors.	11
12. Viking longship measured approximately 25-30 metres in length and could carry up to 60 men.	12
13. Other types of boat used by Vikings were called Knarrs and Karves.	13
14. Knarr ships (sometimes spelt Knorr) were mainly used for transporting cargo. They were taller and wider than longships but smaller in length; they measured approximately 16m (54ft) long and held a crew of 20-30 men.	14
15. The Vikings built small shallow boats for fishing, short journeys and transporting animals these smaller boats were called Karves.	15
16. Sometimes the ships were carried, dragged or rolled above logs overland between rivers and waters; the name for this type of transportation is 'portage'.	16
17. The crew of a Viking ship would include; a helmsman - to steer, a lookout - to check for danger or land, a bailer - to remove water from the ship, the sailing crew and oarsmen - to power the ship.	17
18. Viking ship crews ate a diet consisting of preserved fish, dried fruit and unleavened stale bread. The crew would sleep in fur-lined sleeping bags. There were no toilets on board a Viking ship!	18
19. Sailors kept their personal belongings in a sea-chest, the oarsmen would sit on the sea-chest as a seat to row.	19
20. Scandinavian Vikings were the first Europeans to reach America! Explorer Leif Ericson and his crew reached America around 1000AD, 400 years before Christopher Columbus.	20
21. A longship at sea would be navigated by the position of the sun, moon, and stars in the sky.	21

 

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