high school senior project

[DiplomatZergling]

For my senior project I have decided to create a simple game to teach a basic understanding of physics, mainly optics and thermodynamics. This will be a game made to be played by students in middle and maybe high school. What would you recommend for me to teach through the game regarding the topic of physics?

[imatfaal]

I am not sure what age you are / intend to write for as we don't use those terms in the UK - but a game to give a child an understanding of optics could work with a basic reflection idea. You have a light source, an "obstacle course", various mirrors, and a target that needs illuminating; you need to position mirrors to bounce light beam. Initially only 45 degree - but then you can move to lower/higher angles to gain an idea about angle of incidence = angle of reflection. You could also have different colour sources that need to be brought together and combined to make new colour.

 

Themodynamics - only thing that might come to mind is a basic energy balancing game - but doesn't exactly sound like fun. Although not so much game like you could have various films that can be run backward and forward to try to get some of ideas of entropy explained. Some actions when filmed look pretty much the same forward and backward - bouncing a high-spring ball, juggling (!), a wheel turning, an engine; others can only be seens as natural in one direction - breaking egg, spilling water, house of card demo

[Didymus]

Indeedy. Thermodynamics will probably be pretty hard to turn into a game. What specific principle are you trying to demonstrate in the game? Conservation of energy could be shown by some kind of race involving energy being stored in different states?

 

The light maze idea is great though. Laser pointers can be pretty cheap, then you just need a peg board and some mirrors to put on the pegs. Get some boards on pegs to make a customizable obstical coarse and you're good to go without spending too much money or time.