Using Games to Understand Physics Concepts

Abstract

Throughout students’ careers in physics, there are some topics that they learn multiple times and in multiple ways, and other topics that are briefly, if at all, discussed. I wanted to have the students think about all of the different physics topics they had learned in, most likely, a new way. Games have been used as a way to learn new physics ideas, as a way to examine the scientific process, and for other educational endeavors. I wanted to use a game to think about many physics topics from a different perspective. I modified a board game to enable students to have a competitive atmosphere in which they would be physically drawing and guessing physics ideas. In the game, every player is simultaneously drawing a specific item from a selection of items and also guessing what the other players are drawing. After each round, we would discuss their pictures, misconceptions, misremembered subjects, and other aspects of the drawings. While this game was first used in a senior seminar course, it can easily be modified to other courses and has since been used during a three-week high school outreach course.