How Can Teachers Use It?
Although navigation is a bit tricky, teachers could use this engaging game to give kids a primer on how objects attract one another. It touches on physics, magnetism, rotation, and buoyancy.
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What's It Like?
Finger Physics teaches gravity as kids stack blocks, guide falling eggs, and attach magnetic blocks to stabilize constructions.
In Egg mode, kids tap on dotted white blocks to make them disappear and allow the egg to fall. Geared Blocks mode introduces rotation, and gravity can flow upward in Gravity Blocks mode. In Lunar mode, kids drag and drop shapes to build the tallest structures they can. Kids can take challenges sequentially or hop to any unlocked challenge.
Ten help pages with decent diagrams but small text explain most but not all gameplay concepts of ten modes of play. If kids get frustrated, the Touch Me button on the main menu links to short YouTube videos of solutions for particularly tricky challenges. Kids can download level packs for $1 or get one for free with the download of a featured app.
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Is It Good For Learning?
Through interactive games, kids learn about gravity, momentum, and timing. They try different approaches through trial and error, one way to build knowledge. Each challenge takes into account how long it takes to solve it, and construction-based modes have a five-second stability counter -- but this data isn't saved, so cumulative learning is hard to chart. Success is rewarded with bronze, silver, and gold stars displayed on the main menu, but really, the satisfaction of making a stable construction or perfectly guiding an egg is enough to keep anyone coming back.
On the downside, menu load time is slow, icons are vague, and menu text and organization is a bit confusing.
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