The game Think before

you try...
50 levels each players are rewarded with
medals if they plan ahead,
designed to trigger a instead of just aimlessly trying
specific slightly different solutions

misconception Your goal...

Place robots Activate thrower Profit!
in mechanics
???

...and think green

G3. heavier objects fall faster
Force Concept Inventory
(Hestenes, Wells, & Swackhamer, 1992)
CI3. last force to act determines motion
...is to collect all stars by lighting them with collect-o- if players understand how to use
matics . Use robots that apply an impulsion , a constant their robots well, they use less of
I5. circular impetus force , circular movement or change gravity to control them and get to "recycle" the
them. Travel through danger zones by following speed unused ones to unlock new game
restrictions , and by knowing what are the active forces . features in the recycling shop
CI2. force compromise
determines motion

Mecanika
M

by
François
Boucher‐Genesse
‐
francoisbg@gmail.com
Université
du
Québec
à
Montréal
(UQAM)

Why? Pedagogical guides

Teachers
will
be
given
a
guide
that
details


What?
the
 concepts
 covered
 in
 each
 level.
 A

The
 National
 Science
 Board
 warns
 of
 student
 guide
 providing
 related
 problems


How?
happening
in
real
life
will
also
be
available.


dire
 consequences
 if
 we
 don’t
 change
 !"#$%&'$(

o u r
 s c i e n c e
 e d u c a t i o n
 sys te m

)%()%&*+,-(.+(-#&+%#+(+%(/+)(

0)&.+(.+(12+1+*+((

Research
 question:
 Can
 we


-+,&+($(

(National
Science
Foundation,
2004)
!"##$%&'()*+)*,#'

-*"#.,$/'(,0%1)*23)#)//)'

!4,#'5"6,$#7)''

#,+3(&%#4(

)%&*+,-&5+(.)(6)+7+#($(
!3%5,+$1(

experimentally
 demonstrate

(

Methodology:
 5
 teachers
 will
 use
 the
 game
 as


The
 number
 of
 students
 in
 physical

sciences
is
diminishing
(OCDE,
2008)
that
 a
 video
 game
 speci6ically
 homework
 and
 review
 problematic
 levels
 in
 the

classroom
for
a
month,
with
a
given
class
(N=75).

designed
 to
 cause
 conceptual
 During
 that
 month
 they
 will
 provide
 normal


The
 OCDE
 recommends
 changing
 how
 we


change
 can
 positively
 impact
 instruction
to
their
other
class
(N=75),
then
assign

Force Concept
the
 game
 as
 a
 homework
 for
 students
 without

teach
 physics
 by
 making
 instruction
 more
 conceptions
in
mechanics? providing
 further
 instruction.
 The
 Force
 Concept

attractive,
and
by
focusing
on
conceptions
 Inventory
 test
 will
 be
 given
 to
 students
 every

month,
for
a
total
of
6
measurement
points.

Inventory
SQ1:
 Is
 there
 a
 difference
 in
 FCI
 score
 for

The
 FCI
 is
 a
 multiple
 choice
 questionnaire

classes
 that
 used
 the
 game,
 compared
 to

Initial
 conceptions
 of
 students
 are
 developed
 to
 probe
 if
 a
 student
 has
 a

particularly
 strong
 and
 resilient
 to
 those
who
didn’t?
(B‐A)
‐
(E‐D) Newtonian
 conception
 of
 forces.
 Questions

change
 in
 mechanics
 (Brown
 &
 Experimental
 are
 easy
 to
 understand
 and
 do
 not
 require

SQ2:
 How
 does
 that
 score
 change
 a
 month
 group
Hammer,
2008;
diSessa,
1993) any
 mathematics
 to
 answer.
 Each
 false

after
using
the
game
in
the
classroom?
(C‐B) 1
month 1
month a n s w e r
 i s
 b u i l t
 a r o u n d
 a
 p o p u l a r

SQ3:
 Is
 the
 game
 also
 ef6icient
 when
 used
 misconception
 in
 mechanics.
 (Hestenes,

C o m p u t e r s
 a n d
 v i d e o
 g a m e s
 s h o w
 Control
 Wells,
&
Swackhamer,
1992)
characteristics
 that
 are
 known
 to
 encourage
 simply
 as
 homework,
 without
 guided
 group
conceptual
change
classroom
instruction?
(F‐E) Pre‐instruction
 students
 get
 a
 26%
 FCI

FCI
 FCI
 FCI

‐
they
place
students
in
an
active
role
(Dreyfus,

SQ4:
Is
a
player’s
success
ingame
an
indicator
 pretest postest post‐postest score
in
average.
Jungwirth,
&
Eliovitch,
1990;
Hake,
1998)
‐
they
give
instantaneous
feedback
(Hake,
1998) of
his
FCI
performance?
(using
B‐A
and
F‐E) Typical
 instruction
 boosts
 this

‐
 they
 are
 a
 good
 tool
 to
 change
 students’
 score
by
15‐20%.

intuitions
(diSessa,
2001)
60%
is
considered
to
be
the
minimum


The research
entry
 bar
 to
 understand
 Newtonian
 physics,

There
 have
 been
 enough
 video
 games
 studies
 in
 the

6ield
 of
 mechanics
 to
 show
 some
 potential,
 but
 not
 85%
 indicates
 mastery
 of
 Newtonian

enough
 to
 prove
 their
 usefulness
 in
 that
 domain
 concepts(Hestenes,
2006).
(Rieber
&
Noah,
1997;
Clark,
Nelson,
D'Angelo,
Slack,
&

Martinez‐Garza,
2010;
White,
1984)