[kidsgames] lum, mek, xem

[pkienzle@kienzle.powernet.co.uk (Paul Kienzle)]

I played with XXX=lum, mek, and xem from 
	http://www.linux-france.org/prj/XXX/index.html

They perform as advertised, providing simulations for optics, 
mechanics and chemistry respectively.

As with other simulators (e.g., lightspeed), they do not make for
compelling games.  That's not to say they are uninteresting, but
that they are of very little interest in and of themselves.  To be
compelling, such things really need to be embedded in some sort of
courseware, which explains the theory behind the program, guides
the user through a number of experiments, and then challenges the
user to answer posed questions with experiments of their own design.
So while M. Picard has done an excellent job on the simulation,
the job is only half done without suitable accompanying texts.

I would like to see such texts made available under an open content
license, so that correcting errors or improving presentation in one part
of the book does not entail rewriting the entire book.  Those who claim
that open content is less compelling than open source have obviously
not scanned through dozens of practically identical texts on a subject
searching for one that provides a little extra detail in the area that
you need.  With more open content hopefully there will be a little less
churning in the textbook industry.  Richard Feynman comments on the
high school text book selection process for the State of California
(perhaps in "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman"), for which he was a
member of the selection committee one year.  His main complaint was
that the textbooks were being written by authors who picked all their
content from previous textbooks at the same level without having any
knowledge of the subject itself, and by so doing, propogated the same
errors that have been there for decades.  As he saw it, the creation of
new textbooks was driven largely by the publishing houses competing for
the gravy train of having their text book selected as the standard by
the state, and not by the author's desire to create a better textbook.

But this is a discussion for the SEUL/EDU list.

For our list, we should be discussing how to embed the knowledge needed
for the simulation into a play environment.  For example, with some pH
test strips, and some barrels of sodium hydroxide solution, you could
neutralize the acid baths in Doom, and get the treasure without getting
burned.  For added challenge, mix in a few barrels of hydrogen chloride
solution plus a bunch of other acids, bases, and neutral substances
so that the player actually has to learn some chemistry.  The circus
game mentioned elsewhere could embed physics of the mek simulator by
adding some magnets, charges, and springs and by playing with gravity
and viscosity. Or how about minigolf with a charged ball and magnetic
obstacles.  The idea is to give the student physical intution so that
when they go through the coursewares developed elsewhere they can say,
"Oh, so that's why that happened."

So many ideas, so little time.

Paul Kienzle
pkienzle@kienzle.powernet.co.uk

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