by Alix Messer |
The goal is to find and translate the lapis saeculorum, The Stone of the Ages, before the volcano erupts. This is Operation Lapis.
“[Operation Lapis] is an online game that’s been created to help people learn Latin. It’s in development and we’re testing it,” junior Cailean Williams said. This game does not only test the students’ grasp of the language but also their adventuring skills.
“You’re searching for a stone and going through different missions to find it,” sophomore Isaac Knopf said.
But these missions are not that easy. The program tests everything the students know about the Latin language.
“There’s more encounters of vocabulary and speaking structure,” senior Ryan Prewitt said. Luckily, the students get to work in groups to determine their responses to the different missions on Operation Lapis.
“The students in Latin I are set up in teams that represent various people in the Roman state,” Latin teacher Patricia Kurtz said.
“The students in the group collaborate on their responses to the immersion scenario and then the team leader posts their response to me using Edmodo.”
As the students weave their way through the different missions, they pick up clues as to where they can find the lapis saeculorum. It sounds simple enough, but there is a lot more involved.
“We are just getting underway with it, mostly because it has been a very steep learning curve for me,” Kurtz said. “The setup interlacing the Edmodo platform and Google Docs, coupled with the spontaneity of the immersion episodes, is rather complicated.”
Operation Lapis has a steep learning curve for the students and teacher. But the different missions, which are similar to Legend of Zelda dungeons, make it fun.
“I have never played such role-playing games as the old Dungeons and Dragons or Zelda or Final Fantasy,” Kurtz said.
The Latin program, while it has been challenging, has helped the students significantly.
“I would definitely say it has helped. It’s shown in an easy to understand way how Latin works, which is useful considering how complicated Latin can get,” Williams said.
