Nobel Prize Games

December 28, 2005 7:46 AM

Games and Simulations at the Noble Prize website.See the right sidebar for a complete list of what's available.
posted by OmieWise (20 comments total)

I hear the Nobel Prize website also has some sweet games and simulations.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 8:41 AM on December 28, 2005

Just reading the blurbs, most seem at least kind of on point, but the first one?

Physics
LASER CHALLENGE
Avoid "slackers" who steal your CDs and arrange an amazing laser party.

Huh. I wonder what games the MacArthur Foundation has.
posted by nobody at 8:47 AM on December 28, 2005

they won't be winning any prizes in game design.
posted by empath at 9:24 AM on December 28, 2005

The Laser Challenge one is more silly random game than the others, but you have to answer questions about lasers along the way.
posted by luftmensch at 9:33 AM on December 28, 2005

I think of this as the "sugar pill" model of education: learning is unpleasant and kids won't do it of their own accord, but if you wrap it in sugar they can be tricked into swallowing it.

The Laser Challenge (which to be fair, is the only one I've tried so far) could have had something to do with lasers, or at least optics. The various "reflect a laser beam around with mirrors and splitters and such" type games, for example. Instead, it's a standard (somewhat dull) "run along and jump over stuff" game, which pauses on occasion to ask trivia questions about lasers.

OP: perhaps I was just unlucky in my choice - luftmensch makes it sound like the others are less this way.
posted by freebird at 9:38 AM on December 28, 2005

Hmm - my metaphor is lame, since a "sugar pill" is a placebo. The "a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down" model of science education might be a better trope.
posted by freebird at 9:53 AM on December 28, 2005

I did a few last week. The penicillin one is the most fun to play. At the end they even ask you some questions to see if you realized that they made stuff up for the purpose of the game ("Is it really possible to walk from London to Oxford in a few seconds?")
posted by easternblot at 10:20 AM on December 28, 2005

Yeah, freebird, the problem with the placebo analogy is that placebos work!

For some reason I constructed this FPP very badly, about which I now feel badly. Missing are a poke at the ridiculous slacker thing, direct links to some of the cooler games and stuff, and most importantly, a via shoutout to easternblot's great blog. I don't really know why I left all that stuff off. Sorry.
posted by OmieWise at 10:24 AM on December 28, 2005

OmieWise - not criticizing the post at all, I thought it was interesting. But it brought up some thoughts about science education and game design, and the Laser game illustrated some things I don't particularly like.

The problem with the sugar pill analogy is not so much whether or not placebos work (they don't always work, that's why they're useful controls - no sugar pill has yet cured cancer or diabetes, to my knowledge). The problem is that the metaphor doesn't illustrate my point. A lot of education seems to start from the premise that kids don't enjoy learning. So they try to sneak in the learning by wrapping it in something to trick children into learning without knowing they are, or at least minding - just like you get a kid (or pet) to take unpleasant medicine by wrapping it up in something they like eating it, so by the time they know it's there - too late! It's inside them and there's nothing they can do. Like it or not, they took their vitamins, or learned long division.

I won't get into my bizzarre ideas about science education, after my last ID thread, but I think once you start with the premise that learning is no fun and kids won't like it, you're in thrall to the forces of the dark side and you will do more harm than good - no matter how you do it.
posted by freebird at 10:34 AM on December 28, 2005

Play the blood typing game--if you don't kill anybody, there's a kick-ass party at the end!

Seriously? I don't think I would have found games like this fun as a kid; I would have rather just learned whatever it was I was supposed to be learning. They're kind of fun now, though.
posted by feathermeat at 10:42 AM on December 28, 2005

Exactly feathermeat. When I was a kid, and forced to play some crap "addition asteroids" game or suchlike, I remember feeling like "hey - I have an idea. Why don't you just give me some fucking math problems to do, then let me go outside and play, ok? Or actually teach me something interesting and let me play a fun video game?"
posted by freebird at 10:52 AM on December 28, 2005

Do I get to party with her?
posted by delmoi at 10:55 AM on December 28, 2005

Having said all that, the Chirality game is much better. It's too short and easy, but the game is actually about the scientific concept, rather than a mere vehicle for unrelated quizzes about it. And the snails are cute.
posted by freebird at 10:58 AM on December 28, 2005

How the hell do you play this transfusion game anyway? I drag the syringe around, and nothing happens, asside from the hot nurse getting pissed.
posted by delmoi at 10:58 AM on December 28, 2005

Do I get to party with her?

No way dude, look at her eyes! She looks like she's about to throw off them scrubs and get all ninja assassin on everyone. Like Nick Fury is in the next bed over and she's actually there to kill him. The male doctor has been trying to chat her up in the break room, and just noticed the DeathDealer look in her eyes and sees her pulling shuriken, just outside the frame. Run!
posted by freebird at 11:01 AM on December 28, 2005

freebird writes "But it brought up some thoughts about science education and game design, and the Laser game illustrated some things I don't particularly like."

Oh, I know, I was just needling you. I agree with the "just teach" approach to teaching, rather than the games that teach method. I didn't post the site because I thought that it supported any particular approach to teaching, but because it seems fun.
posted by OmieWise at 11:11 AM on December 28, 2005

No Quake mods?
posted by archaic at 4:37 PM on December 28, 2005

Delmoi,
you need to use the syringe to draw blood from the patients arm and then test with the
blood
posted by Megafly at 5:41 PM on December 28, 2005

I totally just disarmed the world's nuclear weaponry. w00t!
posted by Citizen Premier at 9:50 PM on December 28, 2005

(with a little help from wikipedia)
posted by Citizen Premier at 9:50 PM on December 28, 2005