Mecanika at GLS

I went to Games+Learning+Society to present Mecanika’s impact in Quebec classrooms, and was surprised by the amount of physics games I saw there. Here’s the description. 

It turns out that most physics games out there do not seem to have results as strong as what we've recorded. I just submitted proceedings on the actual results, which I'll link to here later. But briefly: the game caused a large measurable increase on the Force Concept Inventory, and that effect was observed whether or not we added classroom debriefings and detailed guidebook activities about the game. These results are pretty solid since we used a control group and pre/post tests. 

So my goal right now is to put this game in front of as much teachers as I can, for free. They don't even have to look at the game themselves! As long as they ask their students to play it at home, they should see a difference in students Newtonian conceptions. 

Magazine article

Affaires+ published an article on the life of being a contractor, and wanted me to be part of it. Here’s a sneak peak! (French only)

French version of Mécanika out!

I finally got the French version of Mecanika out to the Physics island of Science-en-Jeu (English version coming soon). I'm currently using the game in an experiment with approx. 200 students, and the learning outcome as measured by the Force Concept Inventory will be available this summer of 2011.

Essayez Mécanika!!

Mecanika submitted to IGF

I'm submitting Mecanika to the IGF contest. I've got no idea if I've got any chances of being selected, since I'm presenting a game which has a larger agenda than just being fun. We'll see how well educational games are received by the industry!

Here's a link to a video trailer I made for this. Make sure to check out the other linked videos.

Meaningful Play 2010 Poster

Going to East Lansing to have people play Mecanika

Poster

Mecanika video

Just uploaded a french video on youtube detailing the basic gameplay.




Edit - just finished the English version.

Introducing: Mecanika

This is the little game I've been working on in the last year as part of my Masters at UQAM. The name is Mecanika, and is a mix between Lemmings and World of Goo. The goal of Mecanika is to collect stars with little rocks by creating a path of impulsions, accelerations and rotations. It will be freely available as a flash game on http://www.gameforscience.ca/. This project is financed by the Inukshuk initiative, which allowed Creo to create a physics Island on their website to host the game. I am myself doing this project for free, and it is surprisingly still easy for me to get motivated by it.

The point of the game is to:
A) Have fun
B) Trigger misconceptions commonly encountered by physics novices
C) Be a fun homework that teachers can then use as a tool to address student's misconceptions

There are enough educational "games" out there that make you answer questions, apply formulas, and otherwise fail to exploit video games learning potential by trying to force a school's curriculum in preexisting game mechanics. Mecanika takes a different approach: it is a game about solving tricky physics puzzles, which hopefully will change how you think about physics, thus laying out the foundations for a proper education in the classroom.

Here are some screenies:

Mecanika will hit the interwebs on Winter 2011. In the meantime I will post my progress here.