Poster Information
| Title | Exploring the effects of different uses of a physics puzzle game on students initial conceptions about the concept of force |
| Presenter(s) | Francois Boucher-genesse, Patrice Potvin and Martin Riopel |
| Session | Conference Reception, Game Exhibition, and Poster Session |
| Time | Thursday, October 21, 7:00p-9:00p |
| Location | East Lansing Technology Innovation Center |
| Format | Poster Presentation |
| Description | Many educators suggest a qualitative and conceptual approach to understand Newtonian physics, which does not start with mathematical formulas, but rather with experiences, laboratories and demonstrations focused on students' conceptions. A few researchers specifically studied the impact of video games on Newtonian Physics instruction through empirical means. These studies showed that games have some potential, but the number of participants was usually not large enough to do a satisfying assessment of the effect on learning, and the scope of each game was limited.
Mecanika is a free web-based game in which students have to use their intuition and Newtonian concepts to solve physics puzzles. In Mecanika, players gather energy stars with small collector robots. The players create a path of localized impulsions, forces zones and circular movement zones to lead the collectors properly to the stars. Mecanika allows players to gradually travel from a world which seemingly reacts like the world around them (simulated with the Box2D physics library), to an ideal world teachers frequently use to explain Newton laws, and where friction and gravity are ignored. Mecanika is designed for 3 to 5 hours of gameplay. A two months research will take place in early 2011 to measure the game's impact on students' misconceptions as measured by the Force Concept Inventory test. The FCI will be used to probe students' (N=75) conceptions before, right after, and one month after instruction using the video game, and will compare the results to those of a control group. |