Educational Value
In solving the puzzles, players learn about science and mathematical principles, including:
- Balance – balancing a scale using different weights and distances
- Electricity – constructing various types of series and parallel circuits
- Energy – matching activities to energy types: chemical, electrical, kinetic, nuclear, potential, light, heat, mechanical
- Force – propelling various sized objects into a flashing hole (depending on ramp, gravity and/or friction)
- Gears – constructing machines using gears of various sizes
- Magnetics – constructing various North-South pole patterns
- Machines – building common objects out of simple machine pieces
In building vehicles, players learn about good, better and best principles. For example, that a rounded nose on a car is more aerodynamic and faster than a flat nose, and a pointed nose is better still.
Read more about this topic: Gizmos & Gadgets!
Famous quotes containing the word educational:
“Class is rarely talked about in the United States; nowhere is there a more intense silence about the reality of class differences than in educational settings.”
—bell hooks (b. c. 1955)
“I am not willing to be drawn further into the toils. I cannot accede to the acceptance of gifts upon terms which take the educational policy of the university out of the hands of the Trustees and Faculty and permit it to be determined by those who give money.”
—Woodrow Wilson (1856–1924)