How Can Teachers Use It?
Teachers could incorporate Geared 2! into a unit on simple machines that already has students working hands-on with gears and other simple machines.
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What's It Like?
This engaging puzzler teaches physics and simple machines. Students must position gears so the teeth meet and the gears rotate. As students try to guide a gear into position, its color changes to let them know whether it can be placed or not. If so, kids see -- somewhat graphically -- how gears can increase the speed of the source. For example, a hamster wheel rotates so much faster once the gears are in place that the hamster flies right off! Other details are amusing; the hamster makes a fun "yawn" sound effect when he’s bored because the gears aren’t moving fast enough, and he squeals when he’s flung.
Once he flies off, students see a report showing how long it took them to solve the level, how many moves they made, the distance they dragged the gears, the difficulty level, and how many levels they’ve completed.
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Is It Good For Learning?
The silly fun and challenging physics of Geared 2! will encourage kids to use logic and strategy to solve each puzzle. As the challenges build and students need to add obstacles, they'll use critical thinking and trial-and-error tests. Each level gets a bit more difficult, and the 60 levels will keep them challenged for quite a while. They can also create their own puzzles using the level editor or play puzzles created by other players.
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The levels start out easy with a few gears and easy placement.
As the levels advance, the challenges increase.
Obstacles are added, such as gears that should be avoided.
The complexity increases with different gears that move different ways.
