Mecanika is a physics-based puzzle "Serious Game" designed by François
Boucher-Genesse to help players intuitively learn classical mechanics concepts
-- kinematics and dynamics. The game is the result of collaboration
between the Montreal game studio CREO and the University of
Quebec At Montreal.
Intended for
students aged 15-17, Mecanika is based on 30 years of research in the
didactics of science and aims to make abstract concepts of
mechanical physics, like gravity and inertia, accessible. Rather than teaching
formulas, the game allows players to immediately jump into these concepts by
experimenting and visualizing the effects of forces in space.
According
to François Boucher-Genesse, Mecanika is a glimpse of what the future of
education will look like: a game you get to play as homework and analyze in the
classroom.
The game’s
goal is to light up as many stars as possible along a path by guiding small
scouts correctly. The scouts are produced by a machine and are basically inert
boxes.
In order to succeed, you have at your disposal
a series of robots that are able to modify the scouts’ trajectory, allowing
players to explore the effects of impulses, acceleration and gravity on moving
objects.
At the
introduction level, you start in a zero-gravity environment with a punching
robot already placed at the exit of the machine, which will give scouts an
impulse in the right direction. Players have to place another impulse robot in
the level, which will give an equally powerful hit downward. Most students will
at this point place the impulse robot directly over the second star, expecting
the scout to move in the Y axis only. This is a misconception that Hestenes
identified as “CI3 - last force to act determines motion”. Players will
eventually realize that both impulses have an impact on the scout’s direction,
and place the punching robot over the first star to reach the second one.
The first
version of Mecanika has been available online for free since 2011 at Physica,
on CREO’s GAME FOR SCIENCE website.
Now Mecanika is to be adapted
and revamped for iOS and Android tablets.