In a unit on the fundamentals of computer science, electrical engineering, discrete math, or symbolic logic, Phoenix Protocol would fit right in as a discovery-flavored advance organizer or as some extra at-home practice. If used for these specific learning goals, teachers should work to explicitly make the connections between the game's abstract circles and squares and the very concrete one/zero, true/false world or to engage students in discussion and debate to make these connections themselves.
The game could also make for great general problem-solving and design-thinking practice in almost any class or as supplemental practice for learners who struggle with binary numbers as they're traditionally taught.
Continue readingIn Phoenix Protocol, players must repair a ship marooned in deep space by making connections on a grid of flowing circles and squares using binary logic gates to transform input patterns into multiple outputs. The game introduces the concepts of links, splits, NOT gates, AND gates, and OR gates and simplifies binary numbers to brightly colored circles and squares. Solving each level of eight puzzles repairs part of the ship and unlocks more complex tasks, all on the same five-by-five grid.
The interface is all drag-and-drop in a crisply designed, pulsing, flashing, science-fiction wonderland with a peppy techno-music soundtrack. A kooky, irreverent robot assistant (quite reminiscent of Portal's iconic GLaDOS) adds hilarious encouragement and helpful hints and tutorials along the way.
Phoenix protocol uses a trial-and-error discovery learning approach that works extremely well for teaching otherwise tricky logical concepts. The possibility of multiple solutions for each puzzle encourages design thinking and engineering habits of mind, while gradual introduction of increasingly complex concepts and good progression through more difficult levels provides great scaffolding for the properties of boolean functions.
There aren't any ones or zeros, nor any mention of circuits, electronics, or discrete math -- and that's both this game's biggest strength and biggest weakness. By reinterpreting the content as shape puzzles, it makes the content extremely accessible, but it's at the cost of outside transfer. Making the jump to electrical engineering and computer science will be tricky. Teacher context would add a lot: Some gradual introduction to more common representations would make that transition a lot smoother.