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Re: [kidsgames] lum, mek, xem



Hi Paul,

On Sat, 19 Feb 2000, Paul Kienzle wrote:

-->Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2000 20:28:03 +0000 (GMT)
-->From: Paul Kienzle <pkienzle@kienzle.powernet.co.uk>
-->Reply-To: kidsgames@smluc.org
-->To: kidsgames@smluc.org
-->Subject: [kidsgames] lum, mek, xem
-->
-->
-->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.
-->

Is this a job better suited to seul-edu as you describe it a "courseware"?

-->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.

OpenContent, GPL, Artistic, something that allows the user's to control
the content.

--> 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.
-->

Agreed.

-->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.

Do we have any DOOM hackers on the list, I want to know what kind of mod
this would require to the server?  Or can this be done in the .pak files?

-->  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.

I like this idea.

-->  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.

Some other very interesting simulator's include xspringies, and xephem.
Not sure where they would fall in the linuxforkids.com categories,
probably both in science.  Pretty advanced, but I think useable by high
school, and maybe a precocious middle schooler or two.

--> Or how about minigolf with a charged ball and magnetic
-->obstacles.

or pinball....

-->  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."
-->

Of course, the problem with most simulations is that they don't sufficient
match reality...

-->So many ideas, so little time.
-->

Ain't that the truth.

-- 
Jeff Waddell
jeff@smluc.org

Kids Games Project Coordinator
main website at http://smluc.org/SIA/kidsgames/


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