Simple Games for Science

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Brigit Bara
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Brigit Bara » Sat Sep 16, 2017 10:51 am

Lloyd I am already flunking the elements! (: I thought the incoming asteroid questions were math problems! Also, pressing 'enter' erases your answer and you lose your planet!

Here are two subjects that I would like my kids to learn. And games may assist greatly.

One subject is public speaking. We were at one time going to join Toastmasters, for their sakes. But if there was a simple way to get kids to make brief prepared statements at a podium in a game, that would probably be more at their level, and reduce genuine anxiety. We do cover the subject of oral reading, but they will not read at the podium, even though that is the only way they can get an 'A.'

The next subject I want to teach them is just putting together hydrocarbons with a kit. I want them to know the structures of everything from Methane to oil to plastic to diesel, as well as benzene rings and a few others. There is a kit:
Image
Image

but the main idea is to help them to see that these are mostly naturally occurring compounds and not to be easily told that they are pollutants. They need to always remember the products of volcanic eruptions, plant emissions such as methane, carbon dioxide and isoprenes, and the many products of the electrical breakdown of the atmosphere. Ozone, NO, N02, carbon monoxide, etc.
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

Lloyd
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Lloyd » Sat Sep 16, 2017 3:04 pm

Hi Brigit. For the Elements, the Matching game is the only one that seems worthwhile to start with. I have a complete set from 1-100, but I'm working on making 3 more sets to simplify: 1-40, 31-70, and 61-100. So a person can learn 40 at a time. In the Matching game, you don't have to type anything, which makes the learning go much quicker. If you don't mind making errors, you can learn much faster.

People can learn public speaking and most any performing by the Suzuki Method. That involves pro's and amateurs doing things on practice stage together. With each succeeding practice session there's one fewer pro in the group, etc. E.g.: P=Pro; A=Amateur; 1st: PPPAAAA; 2nd: PPAAAA; 3rd: PAAAA; 4th: AAAA; 5th:AAA; 6th: AA.

If anyone is afraid to make a sound at first, they can just stand with the group. The group can practice standing or sitting together on stage and everyone can say the same thing altogether. Then they can take turns saying a word or a sound, either with their voice or clap hands or play a note on an instrument etc.

I interviewed a music teacher in 1996 who used the Suzuki Method and he said it can be used to teach most anything. He had learned the method from Suzuki himself. I think he was the first to use it in the U.S. Suzuki had students learn violin this way first. They would first play in a group with professionals. The pro's had real violins, but the students had cardboard ones. They were just learning at first to stand in front of people going through violin motions. That's like how people often learn to sing in Church.

I don't know a lot of chemical formulas, but there seems to be an advantage to writing them with Letters, instead of making models, namely that it's easy to see which element is involved in each place, if you know the symbols. I think models usually use colors to represent different elements.

Quizlet.com may have a game for chemical formulas too. I haven't checked yet.

PS, CO2 is definitely not a pollutant, since nearly all plants as well as animals need it to survive. Many people don't realize that without CO2 in our lungs, oxygen can't attach to hemoglobin. Hyperventilating is due to not enough CO2 in the lungs. Asthma may be similar.

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Brigit Bara
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Brigit Bara » Mon Sep 18, 2017 2:21 pm

inre: https://quizlet.com/224372547/learn/starred

We used the elements game Lloyd created, and it was a great tool! Esp. because of the astroid challenge at the end. They could not resist that part.

They each worked for half-an-hour with the game. The oldest got straight to the gravity game and made 64,000 points up to Calcium. The youngest drew a hillarious picture of the nicknames and used that to memorize her pairs. She progressed to Argon and got around 30,000 p. The middle one did not like it but successfully saved her planet and I think is comfortable to Argon. She's an artist. (:

I am going to use this until the end of the week, and then I think I will have them construct a periodic table and fill it in to the end of the Fourth Period. I bet they will be surprised they can do that! I will throw in other useful pairs but not the rest of the table. They are supposed to already know the alkalis, halogens and nobles but that is separate from the game.

And now an enormous thanks to the creator of the game for a fun week with the elements. Thanks so much Lloyd.
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

Lloyd
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Lloyd » Mon Sep 18, 2017 4:00 pm

You're welcome, Brigit. As you might guess, I enjoyed the Matching game the most, because it doesn't require any typing, just clicking on the matching items. It's nice that the kids have more ambition.

The 3 games are accessible at https://quizlet.com/lkindr . I may add the 4th game again. Somehow it disappeared.

I initially thought that ten elements could be learned each week, but some kids could learn faster, although slower is okay too.

I hope your kids get to try out the Suzuki method too.

Lloyd
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Lloyd » Mon Sep 18, 2017 7:24 pm

I have 4 Elements sets there now and I started a set for Organic Molecules & Formulas. The last card of those also has a link to a site that has a bunch more. If you tell me what formulas they need or want to learn, I can add them to the set.

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Brigit Bara
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Brigit Bara » Thu Sep 21, 2017 6:12 pm

inre: elements game by Lloyd

We are still using the game this week! We found it helpful that you removed the dash between the atomic numbers, so it is easier to type when answering the questions. Thank you again. I am really looking forward to having them construct a table from scratch. Can I let you know how that goes?

Also, I bought the book written by Suzuki, called Nurtured by Love. It has not arrived yet.
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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Brigit Bara
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Brigit Bara » Thu Sep 21, 2017 6:13 pm

Thank you for the game with the organic molecules and formulas. I think that will be really helpful for people in Chem 101.

The compounds I want them to memorize are those which are naturally occurring in atmospheric and geological cycles. These will include:

1. Volcanic gas
ex: "water vapor (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur either as sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen, argon, helium, neon, methane, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Other compounds detected in volcanic gases are oxygen (meteoric), hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen bromide, nitrogen oxide (NOx), sulfur hexafluoride, carbonyl sulfide, and organic compounds. Exotic trace compounds include mercury, halocarbons (including CFCs), and halogen oxide radicals."

2. emissions from vegetation, including biogenic hydrocarbons
Image
The blue in Blue Ridge Mountains!

3. emissions from the sea surface and marine microoganisms

4. products of the electrical break down of earth's atmosphere
ex: O3, NO, NO2, NOx, N2O and CO

I have had them draw hydrocarbon chains:
Image

--but that was just while learning about cracking crude oil and they were not tested later. They learned about parrafin and its discovery by James Young, and how it replaced whale oil and provided light to homes, and is used to fuel jets. He is on our calendar of inventors' birthdays, which I am always expanding as we go. (--I consider science to be synonymous with applied science.)

So they will be learning these natural emissions by name, formula, and super-simplified diagram, as shown in this table:
Image

It does not have to be fun though. I don't mind if they suffer. (:
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

Lloyd
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Lloyd » Sat Sep 23, 2017 11:59 am

I am really looking forward to having them construct a table from scratch. Can I let you know how that goes?
Sure. I removed the dashes between element numbers because I could see that it was a pain to type them in. Do they not enjoy the Matching game?

I'll try to work some more on the additional molecules you listed. I don't know how much Suzuki's book will add to what I explained of his method above. If you find anything important that I left out, feel free to mention it.

It might be fun for you to see your kids suffer while learning (just kidding), but it seems that they learn the most from what's fun, although I guess everyone likes to suffer a little bit.

Lloyd
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Lloyd » Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:13 pm

Brigit, I made 2 new sets.
You can teach them the atmos. gases formulas first at
https://quizlet.com/226802037/atmospher ... ash-cards/

Then teach them the models or whatever they're called at
https://quizlet.com/226802774/atmos-gas ... ash-cards/

In that first set I have for example
sulfur hexafluoride as SF6 and
alkyl chloride as C3H5OCl

And in the second set it's
sulfur hexafluoride as S===FFFFFF and
alkyl chloride as HHH=-C-(C=HH)-(C=HH)-Cl

In the latter, you can see how the atoms are arranged. The = signs indicate two connections. Since there are 3, that's 6 in all, one to each F. Two are left and right, two up and down, and two front and back. For the alkyl chloride the 3 H's have 3 connectors to the first C up, down and left of that C. The first C connects to the C in parentheses, which also has an H up and an H down. The second C connects to the third C with an H up and an H down and it connects to Cl to the right. So it should be fairly easy for the kids to learn to draw the models based on learning that.

If you want similar sets for emissions from vegetation, sea surface, microorganisms and electrical breakdown, I can do it if you provide the lists of specific molecules.

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Brigit Bara
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Brigit Bara » Sun Sep 24, 2017 10:20 pm

Lloyd, you are a real institution! The Matching Game was a success with the one who did not want to play before. They all said "GG," which I am told stands for good game. (:

The atmospheric game is terrific. As a matter of fact, I was working out the sources of some of these compounds, and it turns out that chlorobenzene is volcanic in origin. It also has been detected on Mars.

Also, benzene rings themselves are abundant in volcanic eruptions and forest fires, so those can be added. My only thought was that perhaps the maker might possibly be convinced to rename it to "Naturally Occurring Atmospheric Gases." But the whole thing is wonderful and I am so looking forward to starting a small unit with them. Thank you, you did not have to do that!
Lloyd says, "...but it seems that they learn the most from what's fun, although I guess everyone likes to suffer a little bit."
I think we probably have more common ground than not. I never did try to imitate schools. We had fun, and an interesting outcome for us was that because they were not exhausted or stressed from long hours at school, they learned a lot of neat skills in their spare time. For example, one of them codes. I have never known anything about computers but he started teaching himself different languages, and making compilers and things. He can sit down and write a thousand lines over the weekend. I actually admire the way they each think of a project and work hard on it until it is complete, and often at the end they publish in some way.

The important issue in formal education which I think is connected to your idea that education should be "fun," is that schooling should be matched with the stage mental development of the child. So when they are young, for example, you would put things in more mild terms, and you would use more concrete language, and not many abstractions. A child should neither be buried academically, so that he feels inadequate or "stupid," nor should he be left taxiing when he is ready for new challenges. I was just reading some essays about education in the early republic, and Noah Webster was making this point to his generation. It seems obvious but adults seem to easily forget how different children are from us!
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

Lloyd
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Lloyd » Tue Sep 26, 2017 7:57 am

Brigit said: schooling should be matched with the stage mental development of the child
Yes. Glenn Doman of the Institute for the Achievement of Human Potential found by working with brain-injured people that children learn simple things very easily from age 1.5 to 5 or 6, but to age 3 they learn fastest. That's why they learn their native language in those years. But they can learn reading, math and other simple things like the chemical elements etc just as easily. But they have to have refreshers periodically, or they tend to forget. That's like my sister-in-law. She grew up speaking French till age 7, but as an adult she no longer remembered the language, because she had moved to where only English was spoken. Kids can learn easily to count large numbers of objects in large groups, instead of individually or in small groups. That means they can learn to tell at a glance how many objects are in view. Say there are 100 marbles scattered on the floor. They can see that amount all at once, instead of having to count them one by one or two by two etc. But that takes time starting with small numbers and working up to large numbers using flash cards with large dots instead of numerals. The cards have to be shown for only half a second each at a time doing only ten or so cards 2 or 3 times each day. And the kids should not be tested, because that's stressful for them and makes them lose interest, just as we don't usually ask kids to pronounce words correctly when they first learn to talk. They don't need to be corrected, because they're self-correcting as they hear other people talk. There are some good videos online that demonstrate teaching very young kids math and reading using flash cards by Doman's method.

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Brigit Bara
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Brigit Bara » Sat Oct 14, 2017 6:37 pm

Inre teaching the periodic table through games experiment, using Lloyd's fun games

So we wish to see if the Digital Natives can be tricked into learning important portions of the periodic table while they are playing a game.

So far I have a drawing of a night ox in high heels dancing on a neon floor, etc.

And I also have a freehanded, proportionate drawing of the periodic table on graph paper, which looks like a castle and features arrows, a pea cannon, the queen, a plague doctor, and some peasants and cattle outside of the castle.

I just need them to put all of this together into the elements.

PS I am sorry the project got delayed. The Digital Natives have begun college so that I have less time with them then I had before. The local college allows 16-year-olds to begin college if they pass the entrance exams. That is why I have not continued, but should be able to wrap up next week. So the delay is in a good cause (: Thank you again for the help. It is very important to me that they understand the elements. I esp. concentrated on the metals, and how they are processed using very high temperatures (and also chemical processes) to make steels and alloys with many different properties and uses. And by the way, it is impossible to reach and maintain these high temperatures using seabreezes and sunshine for power. If my children understand that, I will consider them educated. Hopefully we all agree on that.
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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Brigit Bara
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Brigit Bara » Thu Oct 19, 2017 7:10 pm

We decided to use it for astronomy.

Image
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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Zyxzevn
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Zyxzevn » Sat Oct 21, 2017 2:58 pm

There are some puzzle games at
brilliant.org
More ** from zyxzevn at: Paradigm change and C@

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Brigit Bara
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Re: Simple Games for Science

Unread post by Brigit Bara » Sat Oct 28, 2017 1:43 pm

inre: the goals of education; making education "fun" by using games.


Suggestion: The role of games and computers in education is in fact already supplanting books, [teachers], [pencils], and other printed materials in the class room.

"TEENS REACT TO ENCYCLOPEDIAS," dur 8:18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7aJ3xaDMuM

Couter offer:
Book learning is "fun." In fact, I had an ulterior motive in choosing the above illustration of the possible loss of printed books -- I have 19 sets of encyclopedias which we use several times a day! (:
1. We use them for oral reading.
2. We use them for critical thinking, by comparing articles about the same subject from very different eras.
3. We use them for research
4. We use them for random browsing
5. We use them for dictation, so that they practice hand writing every day.

I would like to add that people discussing educating young people should never underestimate the reward that effort, research, and practice can bring to the child. (Perhaps you all remember, like I do, learning to successfully carry out long division problems in second grade. I also remember being happy when I learned to read and write. I was rewarded by good teachers who loved their subjects, and by getting high marks even in subjects I did not like.) Children who are used to experiencing the rewards of book learning will have developed a lifelong habit of reading and subject mastery through books. This enjoyment of books is in my view most likely to be developed while they are young -- that is, the affection for reading is both time-sensitive and dependent on close bonds -- like other language development skills.

I think it is very possible that the use of drugs on children will flatten the usual fun of learning, as will the addiction to playing digital games. There is some neurochemistry involved here but maybe another time.
“Oh for shame, how these mortals put the blame upon us gods, for they say evils come from us, when it is they rather who by their own recklessness win sorrow beyond what is given…”
~Homer

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