Escape From Knab

Escape From Knab is a cool interactive website that sends students on an interplanetary journey to the planet of KNAB. While on Knab, students are required to make and save enough money to be able to afford a plane ticket back to earth. In order to do this, students learn about wages, taxes, budgeting, expenses, bank accounts, housing, etc. It even allows students to write virtual checks to pay for bills! Overall, this is a really cool website that teaches students some essential life skills!

Curriculum Connections:
Grade: Eight
Subject: Health
Unit: Family Structures, Roles, & Responsibilities

In the Classroom:
I would use this website with my students after we have discussed the different roles that family members take on. Students will brainstorm the things that they will be responsible for as they get older, and will look at some of the things that their parents look after on a daily basis in order to make ends meet. Students will gain an appreciation and understanding about the important life skills of budgeting, expenses, saving, etc. All of these things are important tools, even for Grade 8 students. After students have brainstormed examples of some of the responsibilities they will have when they get older, students will proceed through several learning centres. Each of these learning centres will have a specific topic, such as wages, budgeting, taxes, bank accounts, etc. At each of these learning centres, students will read and learn about what each of these things is, and they will have to make important decisions at each learning centre. (I.E. Each centre will have a task that the students must perform, such as budgeting enough money for food, paying bills, etc.) (A possible option would be to assign students' specific roles before beginning this activity - Each student will be assigned a job, a wage, a role in a family, # of kids, etc.)
Once students have learned about all of these different aspects of life as an adult, they will proceed through the online activity on KNAB. Students will use the knowledge they have gained to make decisions to allow them to return to Earth! It is a neat, fun, and interactive way to learn about important issues!

Benefits for Students:
With this website, students learn very important life skills. They also gain an understanding of all of the planning/budgeting that is needed to live on their own. In addition, this website offers many interdisciplinary options, especially relating to the MATH curriculum. We are often told that math should relate to real life, and give students the opportunity to use math to solve real-life problems. While this website involves an imaginary world, it still gives students the opportunity to solve real life problems using mathematics in a FUN way!