Premise:
Education is changing for good with explosion of technology and mobile phones. Can we help students learn more efficiently and effectively than before. I do not know of other things but, I think it is possible in Physics.
Problem Definition:
Many a students and schools across the globe do not have any experimental equipment to learn science the way it is to be learnt. Even in schools where there are good labs, students do not approach labs with curiosity, probably because of their mono-tonicity.
Solution/Thoughts:
A single platform for science based experiments as a game. E.g: We can have a few tools like pulleys, battery, motor, copper wire, magnets, ropes etc., and ask students to build a solution for a problem like moving a 20kg stone from one place to another. We could ask them to build/engineer things using these basic tools and achieve an objective like design an harpoon to scale enemy walls in a war-like game. We can have multiple stages with each stage based on a concept with a set of tools.
Existing games:
There are a few games existing on somewhat similar lines. But none which is a generic platform for science experiments:
Angry Birds: A very successful(>100Million downloads) game on iPhone/Android with which students can learn about projectiles, even though it was not designed with the purpose of teaching Physics.
http://fantasticcontraption.com/: This is a more exhaustive Physics simulation game which was launched in 2008. In 6 months more than 3 million people played it. It certainly teaches some engineering/building principles, but nothing in a standard education set-up.
Technologies needed:
1> Android/iPhone Programming
2> Physics engine
3> Designing a gaming framework from scratch for science.
I am not looking at this as a money making idea. But something that is interesting and satisfying to be part of. Any one ready to be part of it?
Sounds good. Count me in!!
ReplyDeleteVery cool idea. I'd like to try something here too.
ReplyDeleteJust another thought here, another approach that could be taken is - divide the generic thing into smaller bits and make games/apps for each of these. Like Angrybirds is only for the projectile stuff. Make separate ones for Spacewalks, Friction, etc. This will help keep it simpler for the end user to use and for the designer to make the UI for.
ReplyDeletenice idea, This kind of apps people definately use. In US one guy launched app for Law students.
ReplyDeleteok Guys, after some thought and talking to lots of people, I also felt this is a good idea to pursue.
ReplyDeleteOne more thought on the basic framework:
This has to be a platform for education and also commerce.. I mean just see what apps did to iPhone. If you create a platform which can be used by people to also make some money, u can expect richer content. If you donot build a commerce engine around it, it will end up like firefox addons which no one is incentiviced to develop as we cannot make any money out of it. At the same time, we should not forget our primary goal of helping education reach everyone.
With this premise, I think we need to build a platform with which anyone can build a education-based around it. We will build a few of them to start with and give the paltform to developers so that they build tools using our platform for their local communities. Foe e.g, a student in Nigeria may need a very different game compared to a student in Newyork. So, we give the paltform to teachers/schools/NGOs and ask them to build games for their needs.We can have each game as a new app on this platform. Some of them can also be priced (<$10) so that teachers have a monetary incentive to build them. Giving monetary incentive will help people spend more time build richer content. For a kid in Newyork, his/her parents will not mind spending $1 for a game which will teach their kids electromagnetism.
May be we all can meet-up and discuss this in person also. Some of the ME students at IISc are also interested in this.
@CSK A good example of your idea would be http://www.mymousegames.com/
ReplyDelete