BACKGROUND

Target audience

Primary target audience: High school physics students (grade 9-12)

According to Next Generation Science Standards and A Framework for K-12 Science Education, by the end of grade 8, students will know:

The motion of an object is determined by the sum of the forces acting on it.
For any given object, a larger force causes a larger change in motion.
Forces on an object can also change its shape or orientation.
Newton’s third law: For every pair of interacting objects, the force on the first object is equal in size to the force on the second object but in the opposite direction.
Ideas about gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces.

Vectors, however, are seldom introduced to students by the time they are seniors in high school. As discussed, learning forces and motion without knowing vectors is not efficient. So it is a good call to introduce vectors as soon as they get some basic understanding of forces.

Though the game mainly targets high schoolers, it can be enjoyed by people from a wide range of ages and backgrounds, covering young students to adults, physics geeks and non-physics majors.

Personas

Name: George

Age: 16

Grade: 10

George is taking high school physics and is currently learning Newton’s laws of motion. The content in class does not always make sense to him. Above all, he does not find it interesting. He does not see what he can use the knowledge for.

George is looking for something to supplement the formal learning in class and boost his interest.

Name: Emma

Age: 10

Grade: 5

Emma is excited about forces. She has qualitative and conceptual knowledge such as “each force has both a strength and a direction”, “forces that do not sum to zero can cause the object to change its speed or direction”. She wants to know how forces change the motion.

Emma is looking for opportunities to deepen her knowledge of forces and prepare for future studies.

Context of use

The game is going to be downloaded to phones (iOS/Android) or tablets. The game can be used in class to support teaching. But the original goal of the game is to supplement school learning in informal settings such as at home.

As for social features, the game only has a single-player mode, but a “share GIF” feature will be added in the future.

Project goals

Learning goals

Players will have qualitative knowledge of how forces affect the object’s velocity and be able to predict changes in the motion.
Players will have intuitive understanding of vectors and vector addition.
Players will be experienced in representing velocity and forces with vectors.
Players will be able to recognize different forces:
- Gravity is the force that pulls objects down to the ground.
- Normal force is a contact force that is perpendicular to the surface that the object contacts. (Future levels)
- Friction is the force resisting the relative motion of contacting surfaces. (Future levels)

Other goals

Increase players’ interest in learning physics.
Increase players’ confidence through the process of solving problems.
Encourage players to be creative by solving the puzzles in their unique ways.

Landscape

Here are my research on some similar games and simulations.

Tinybop Simple Machines (iOS, Ages: 4+)

This elegant physics simulation game is like a virtual toy that presents 6 basic machine mechanics: levers, pulleys, wheels/axles, screws, inclined planes, and wedges. Players interact with the mechanics, discover how they work, and do experiments in the game.

The game has few instructions - it all depends on the player’s exploration. The interactions are simple and clear. Graphically speaking, the game has beautiful colors, simple shapes, and smooth animation.

goals

Poly Bridge (iOS/PC, Ages: 8+)

Poly Bridge is a bridge-building simulator in which players learn structural engineering. Players get to design bridges and see how well the bridges bear the load when cars cross them. Players will learn how to spread pressure across joints, using triangle structure and different materials such as wood and rope.

The game elegantly explains complex concepts through visuals and interactions - when a bridge falls, players get to see what causes the problem and go back to fix it. In addition, the level design matches educational purposes - as players manage more structures, the difficulty level up and players need to use prior knowledge flexibly to figure out a solution.

Crayon physics (PC/Mac, Ages: 4+)

Crayon Physics is a brilliant 2D physics puzzle game in which players get to experience what it would be like if their drawings would be magically turned into physical objects. In the game, players create objects, such as poles and levers, to make the ball reach the goal in different landscapes. The game makes problem solving a highly visual procedure - players draw on the screen and then see the consequences.

Inspired by Crayon Physics, I decided that my game would be a puzzle game where players use forces to make an object travel to the goal.

PhET interactive simulations (website)

PhET is a website with abundant math and science simulations which can be great resources to use in classrooms. For example, Projectile Motion is like a virtual lab where students learn about projectile motion by firing objects, setting parameters such as angle, initial speed, and mass.

In such simulations, students can accurately adjust the parameters to conduct experiments at a quantitative level. Doing so, however, more or less relies on teachers to provide prompt or guidance.

My game’s approach is quite different. Firstly, the context would be outside classrooms. Second, the game focuses on qualitative knowledge and avoids calculations. Third, each level has a clear goal and an end, so players know where to start and where to stop.

In conclusion, none of the games I found are focusing on teaching "forces". I believe students need a game where they can play with forces and get some ideas about “why things work this way”.