1. TREE THINKING
GAME MODULES DEMO
NOTE
These slides do not represent the final game design or completed content.
They are for demonstration purposes only.

2. What is this game about?

3. An evolutionary tree is like a family tree

4. Looking at your family tree, you can see you and your first
cousins share grandparents, two generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Liz
Jorge
Phil
Anna
Cho
Aaron
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.
Tony

5. Looking at your family tree, you can see you and your first
cousins share grandparents, two generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Liz
Jorge
Phil
Anna
Cho
Aaron
Cousins
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.
Tony

6. Looking at your family tree, you can see you and your first
cousins share grandparents, two generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Liz
Jorge
Phil
Anna
Cho
Aaron
Cousins
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.
Tony

7. Looking at your family tree, you can see you and your first
cousins share grandparents, two generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Liz
Jorge
Phil
Anna
Cho
Aaron
Cousins
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.
Tony

8. Looking at your family tree, you can see you and your first
cousins share grandparents, two generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Liz
Jorge
Phil
Anna
Cho
Aaron
Cousins
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Grandparents
Mr.
Tony

9. You and your second cousins share great-grandparents, three
generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Liz
Jorge
Phil
Anna
Cho
Aaron
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.
Tony

10. You and your second cousins share great-grandparents, three
generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Phil
Anna
Tony
2nd cousins
Liz
Jorge
Cho
Aaron
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.

11. You and your second cousins share great-grandparents, three
generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Phil
Anna
Tony
2nd cousins
Liz
Jorge
Cho
Aaron
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.

12. You and your second cousins share great-grandparents, three
generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Phil
Anna
Tony
2nd cousins
Liz
Jorge
Cho
Aaron
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.

13. You and your second cousins share great-grandparents, three
generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Phil
Anna
Tony
2nd cousins
Liz
Jorge
Cho
Aaron
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Mr.

14. You and your second cousins share great-grandparents, three
generations back.
Ernesto
Anastasia
Phil
Anna
Tony
2nd cousins
Liz
Jorge
Cho
Will
Arthur
Mrs.
Great-grandparents
Aaron
Mr.

15. What if you went even further back on your family tree?

16. What if you went even further back on your family tree?

17. What if you went even further back on your family tree?
Ten generations?

18. What if you went even further back on your family tree?
Ten generations?

19. What if you went even further back on your family tree?
Ten generations?
A thousand generations?

20. What if you went even further back on your family tree?
Ten generations?
A thousand generations?

21. What if you went even further back on your family tree?
Ten generations?
A thousand generations?
A million?

22. What if you went even further back on your family tree?
Ten generations?
A thousand generations?
A million?
What do you think your distant cousins would look like then?

23. All of Life is part of one big family that began when the first cell
started its life in a primordial pond almost 4 billion years ago.

24. All of the species alive today are cousins on the 3.8 billion
year old tree of life
Human
Cow
Lizard
Turtle

25. We use DNA to figure out where species belong on this tree
Human
Cow
Lizard
Turtle
?

26. We use DNA to figure out where species belong on this tree
Human
Cow
Lizard
Turtle
Bird

27. This game lets you solve a puzzle,
putting animals in their spot on the tree of life

28. When you drag an animal around, hover it over the species on
the tree to see how much its DNA matches
DNA
Animal 1
DNA
Animal 2
95%

29. Eventually this game will be a lot fancier
Which new branch does
the elephant go on?

30. …With a tutorial and fun facts about each animal
ORCA
Orcinus orca
The orca, more commonly known as the killer whale, is
the largest member of the dolphin family. The largest
orcas grow almost as long as a school bus.
Orcas are found throughout the world’s oceans, and swim
in large family groups called “pods.” Members of each pod
communicate in dialects of clicks and whistles that are
unique to that group.
FUN FACT:
Orcas can live as long as the average human!

31. Proposed levels:
Level 1: (Broad evolutionary relationships)
e.g, Humans, sea anemone, house fly, tree, seaweed, fungus, bacterium
Level 2: (Animals)
e.g, Humans, orcas, cow, elephant, opossum, alligator, coelacanth, trout
Level 3: (Canids)
Fox, wolf, Chinese Shar-Pei, chow chow, basenji, Siberian husky, Afghan
hound, chihuahua, boxer
Level 4: (Solve a societal problem)
e.g, Figure out which contemporary influenza virus is most similar to the
Spanish flu of 1918 (using RNA similarity)

32. Proposed 15-30 second long educational modules:
1) What's this game about?
2) What is DNA?
3) How do scientists collect these DNA “fingerprints”?
4) How does the game work?
5) How closely related are these two animals?
6) What does the percentage mean?

33. What is dNA?
Sample information module

34. Within every one of the trillions of cells that make up your
body lies a small molecule called DNA.

35. Within every one of the trillions of cells that make up your
body lies a small molecule called DNA.

36. This is
DNA!
Within every one of the trillions of cells that make up your
body lies a small molecule called DNA.

37. DNA is made up of four different pieces that form an alphabet

38. A
DNA is made up of four different pieces that form an alphabet

39. AT
DNA is made up of four different pieces that form an alphabet

40. A TG
DNA is made up of four different pieces that form an alphabet

41. A TG C
DNA is made up of four different pieces that form an alphabet

42. YOU
CTATTCTG
CTTCTACC
ATTCTTCGTATGGCCCCC
CGTATGGATATATATATG
CGCGGGGGACTGACTTG
CGCTTCTCCCCCTATAGG
TATGCCTCTCTATTATTA
TTCTTTGCTATACTTCCC
CCCAACCCCTTGAGGAC
CCCCGTGC
GGGGTTC
CACTCCAT
ATATGGA
TATGGATAAACCCCTAG
GTATATGGATATATTGGC
CTTCCGGGGACTGATAA
GTATGCCTTATGGATATA
TATATGCGCGGATAGCAT
DNA is made up of four different pieces that form an alphabet
that is read like an instruction manual for our bodies.

43. When the cells of our bodies multiply as we grow and have
children, the DNA gets copied along with it.

44. Sometimes there is a little glitch in the copying process, and
one of the letters of the DNA alphabet gets switched to another.

45. These mistakes are
called mutations!
Sometimes there is a little glitch in the copying process, and
one of the letters of the DNA alphabet gets switched to another.

46. As the tree of life grew and divided into many diverse species

47. As the tree of life grew and divided into many diverse species, each had its
own unique sets of mutations which they passed on to their children.

48. These mutations are like "fingerprints" in the genetic code

49. These mutations are like "fingerprints" in the genetic code, and let us find
where a creature belongs on the tree of life compared to its relatives.

50. These mutations are like "fingerprints" in the genetic code, and let us find
where a creature belongs on the tree of life compared to its relatives.

51. CREDITS
Content and Design By Laura Crothers, Ammon Thompson, and PowersCombined
Worm by Ana María Lora Macias from The Noun Project
Grass by Bryn Mackenzie from The Noun Project
Sea Turtle by Baffi Lab from The Noun Project
Network by Juan Pablo Bravo from The Noun Project
Book by Pyetro Rapp from The Noun Project
Cell by Maurizio Fusillo from The Noun Project
Other images in the public domain or by Laura Crothers