![]() I was typing on the way to do things that I enjoyed. Because in those games, before voice comms were common place, you had to be able to communicate reasonably effectively, but quickly, and in the middle of doing other things. Even the most gamified ones like mario teaches typing, or later typing of the dead, were still typing tutors.īut what really improved my typing speed more than any typing tutor out there was when I started playing Everquest online, and later World of Warcraft. ![]() It's like all the different typing tutors that we were given in computer class when I was growing up. It's just doing math problems with pictures. It's a game about balancing an equation on either side of a playfield. like they're no big deal.Ī game like dragonbox falls into the edutainment trap. It's just that in order to do that, I learn me some calculus, and some orbital mechanics, and some other things until I can break some of it down in my head, until I'm talking about thrust to weight ratios, delta v, specific impulse etc. It's because I want to build a base on a distant planet. It's because I want to get a rocket to the Mun, it's because I want to build the cheapest ship that can take space tourists up and down to fund my space empire. Or you can do what I did and take experimental data and build your own model.īut when I'm doing this it's not to balance an equation. It gives you some information, and you can go and get mods which give you more information (and expose you to more of the math, but at your own request). You have aerodynamic drag that changes with the density of the atmosphere. You have a rocket that has a certain force at sea level, a certain force in the upper atmosphere, you have a mass that is a full tank of fuel, and a mass that is an empty tank of fuel. If you were making an edutainment game to teach about how to work with orbital mechanics, it would look like KSP.īut the secret thing that the game has done is make me revisit calculus. In playing KSP, I've learned a bunch about orbital mechanics, which is the quite obvious result. This is a game about shooting rockets to other planets. In the end the only point of this is doing algebra.Ĭontrast this to something like Kerbal Space Program. The problem with this is it is trying to make a game out of doing algebra. Manipulation from any sense of meaning, but I lookįorward with interest to see if it can be used in aĮdutainment is always iffy business. I amĭeeply uneasy about the further divorcing of algebraic Potential to be a fantastic aid to learning. I think this is a wonderful tool, and it has the I'll finish here by quoting the last paragraph of my previous lengthy reply: But having said that, I'd be reluctant to herald games like this as the future of teaching math. So let me say that I think it's important that these things exist, and I think it's great that they are being developed, and I really want them to succeed in their own right. I can envisaged the possibility that kids that have played DragonBox and then moved on with get introduced to "proper" algebra later and not even bother trying too hard, because they'll think "I've done this, I don't care any more." ![]() The question is: will the things they've done in playing the game have a positive effect? Kids could play the game for a bit, decide they've had enough, and then move on. There is a comment here that gives an instance of exactly the sort of thing I'm worried about. ![]() I'm really pleased to see this here and doing well. Let me say from the get-go that anything that helps get over the barrier for playing with, experimenting with, and generally messing about with algebra type stuff is a Good Thing(tm). The Wired article has since gone missing, but the HN discussion remains. Some three years ago when a Wired article about this was submitted I wrote an extended comment expressing some concerns about this. I expect I'm too late to the party for this comment to be noticed, but I thought I'd add something. ![]()
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