#224467 - 05/27/11 09:11 PM
Good games to teach scientific method?
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
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Do you know of any good games that can teach the scientific method? Ideally the game would have an interesting and instructive subject matter suited to a wide age range.
Have you played any such game?
Thanks.
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#224489 - 05/28/11 12:39 AM
Re: Good games to teach scientific method?
[Re: dweste]
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Enthusiast
Registered: 08/15/03
Posts: 208
Loc: NE Ohio
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I don't know any games, but the group They Might Be Giants has a great CD and DVD combination called "Here Comes Science" that teaches a broad range of science information and is fun to listen to... Here Comes Science They also have "Here Come the ABCs" and "Here Comes the 123s." Cheers Dave
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#224498 - 05/28/11 05:20 AM
Re: Good games to teach scientific method?
[Re: dweste]
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Old Hand
Registered: 05/29/10
Posts: 863
Loc: Southern California
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If you're talking about deductive reasoning, the board games "Mastermind" and the various renditions of "Clue" (classic, regular, Harry Potter, Family Guy, etc.) are good for that. http://www.amazon.com/Pressman-Toy-3018-...3215&sr=1-1http://www.amazon.com/Parker-Brothers-40...3300&sr=1-1I don't know of any games that will teach research, hypothesis, tests, analysis, and conclusions.
_________________________
Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane
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#224670 - 05/30/11 04:29 PM
Re: Good games to teach scientific method?
[Re: dweste]
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 09/15/05
Posts: 2485
Loc: California
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I've never heard of a gamethat helps teach the scientific method. Actually, the only self-contained exercise that I can recall ever doing in school that encapsulates the whole process of the scientific method is when we did science fair projects. Besides that, everything else is just focusing on a facet of the overall process.
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#224675 - 05/30/11 06:12 PM
Re: Good games to teach scientific method?
[Re: dweste]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 03/11/05
Posts: 2574
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Great question - I'll ask around
Teacher
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#224687 - 05/30/11 07:43 PM
Re: Good games to teach scientific method?
[Re: dweste]
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
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There are probably legitimate reasons to consider a variety of approaches to be scientific methods, given the differences in sciences, but I was thinking primarily of the so-called hard sciences. I belive a fair rendition of the scientific method for hard science would be:
1. Observation / evidence gathering. 2. Creating or chosing plausible hypotheses as to what has been observed and gathered. 3. Designing experiments to support or eliminate hypotheses. 4. Carrying out the experiments. 5. Evaluating the experimental results, including statistical analyses of multiple test runs, to determine which hypotheses the observations and evidence best support.
That would be asking a lot from a game, but surely someone has at least taken a shot at it.
Edited by dweste (05/30/11 07:45 PM)
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#224689 - 05/30/11 07:55 PM
Re: Good games to teach scientific method?
[Re: dweste]
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Veteran
Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 1419
Loc: Nothern Ontario
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There are probably legitimate reasons to consider a variety of approaches to be scientific methods, given the differences in sciences, but I was thinking primarily of the so-called hard sciences. I belive a fair rendition of the scientific method for hard science would be:
1. Observation / evidence gathering. 2. Creating or chosing plausible hypotheses as to what has been observed and gathered. 3. Designing experiments to support or eliminate hypotheses. 4. Carrying out the experiments. 5. Evaluating the experimental results, including statistical analyses of multiple test runs, to determine which hypotheses the observations and evidence best support.
That would be asking a lot from a game, but surely someone has at least taken a shot at it. All of the above I learned as kid from from every day life/exploration/experimenting and did not need a specific game to figure it out. Although times and technology have changed, I can also say that my kids have learned the same way...
_________________________
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
John Lubbock
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#224690 - 05/30/11 08:03 PM
Re: Good games to teach scientific method?
[Re: Teslinhiker]
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 02/16/08
Posts: 2463
Loc: Central California
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All of the above I learned as kid from from every day life/exploration/experimenting and did not need a specific game to figure it out. Although times and technology have changed, I can also say that my kids have learned the same way... Based on all the pseudoscience and gullible exclamations out there, I would say that puts you and your kids firmly in the minority! Especially for areas where the theories and evidence are new to you, it would be great to have a meanigful introduction in game form.
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#224691 - 05/30/11 08:41 PM
Re: Good games to teach scientific method?
[Re: Teslinhiker]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 11/13/06
Posts: 2986
Loc: Nacogdoches, Texas
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There are probably legitimate reasons to consider a variety of approaches to be scientific methods, given the differences in sciences, but I was thinking primarily of the so-called hard sciences. I belive a fair rendition of the scientific method for hard science would be:
1. Observation / evidence gathering. 2. Creating or chosing plausible hypotheses as to what has been observed and gathered. 3. Designing experiments to support or eliminate hypotheses. 4. Carrying out the experiments. 5. Evaluating the experimental results, including statistical analyses of multiple test runs, to determine which hypotheses the observations and evidence best support.
That would be asking a lot from a game, but surely someone has at least taken a shot at it. All of the above I learned as kid from from every day life/exploration/experimenting and did not need a specific game to figure it out. Although times and technology have changed, I can also say that my kids have learned the same way... This puts you ahead of me. Still, as a child, I would go to the Museum of Nature & Science, Dallas Nature Center, Duncanville Public Library and observe the rock formations at Ten Mile Creek. Jeanette Isabelle
_________________________
I'm not sure whose twisted idea it was to put hundreds of adolescents in underfunded schools run by people whose dreams were crushed years ago, but I admire the sadism. -- Wednesday Adams, Wednesday
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