Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Did you know that was SCIENCE???

As I sit in the waiting room of the hospital, the only thing that takes my mind off of my family tragedy is playing "Angry Birds" on my Droid.  I have been consumed with the game since it came out many moons ago, and the makers of the game keep feeding my addiction by sending out offshoots of the original.  I cannot give up on a certain level until I have acquired all THREE stars.. and it is driving me nuts.  I know I have two Black Bomb Birds and One Red Big Momma Bird (my pet names for the characters) and I have to figure out what trajectory I must release the bird in order to hit the structure in just the right place to send the entire structure crumbling to the ground with one fell swoop, squashing all three pigs inside.

It just occurred to me at that very moment...  I was using scientific terms and problem solving to win each level of my game.  Do I use the words trajectory or impact points for structures in every day conversation?  NO... but this silly game with squawking birds has me problem solving scientifically.

We dismiss all gaming as time wasting brain rotting activity... but if you stop to think about the processes that go into certain types of games, you realize that the problem solving that is involved really ramps up higher level thinking.  We just have to guide our students to the RIGHT types of games...

Science is the subject that gets ignored most often but can really elevate thinking levels when presented in fresh ways.  A teacher pointed out this site to me..  Physics Games has many games that invoke scientific problem solving in creative ways.  Check it out!



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