I bought a cheap Android phone this week, and I've spent all week enjoying the huge number of free games available. After my required Angry Birds time (which will be another forthcoming topic, as it has already been involved in a few educational ventures), I began experimenting with a few educational games.
My personal favorite educational game so far is by far Space Physics Lite. There is also a full version of the game available for $1.99, which is said to offer more levels and ad-free play. It is a surprisingly fun game for one with such a simple concept, one that feels like a combination of an Etch-A-Sketch with a physics engine.
The game has a familiar "arcade game" structure, with multiple short levels which each have a single goal. In every level, the player's goal is to move a green ball across the level through a variety of obstructions to reach a glowing star. The obstructions range from empty space to spinning gears and multiple levels. Players can use the touch screen to draw items to assist in moving the ball to its goal, from gears to ramps and even cars. The concept and mechanics or the game are relatively intuitive and simple, but the play itself becomes complex pretty quickly as the puzzles get more difficult.
In spite of the name, Space Physics does not seem to be a game that is particularly well suited for teaching basic physics. While the game physics engine seems to be accurate as far as the interactions of the items on screen, I did not find any features that aided understanding of why things happened the way they did. I still think that Space Physics could be used as a teaching tool, although one that would need very much to be in a supporting role. The ability to draw freehand and see gears, bridges and cars pop into existence is definitely fun and can provide a way for students to quickly understand how intertia and forces can affect components. While the building and interactions are very simplistic, they can provide a basic, intuitive understanding.
In addition, Space Physics provides a good interface for problem solving, specifically for thinking about problems that need to be solved physically. It takes very little time to restart the level and clear all the items you have created, making it a risk-free "playground" to experiment with the interactions of gears, levers and other building blocks under normal physical conditions.
