Time Machine Trip
by Jean Thilmany, Associate Editor
Four years ago, Ray Shingler had what was, for the time, a revolutionary concept. Kids love games, he reasoned. These days, they’re especially drawn to video games. Why not use the play instinct to teach engineering methods?
The two—gaming and engineering—were a natural marriage, and teachers were already getting their minds around the idea of incorporating computer games into the classroom. With that in mind, Shingler and colleague Clay Schultz created Time Engineers, an instructive video game for kids in seventh to 10th grade. They distribute the game through their Valparaiso, Ind.-based company, Software for Kids.
By booting up Time Engineers, students travel to three different time periods and encounter engineering problems that need solving. They work on problems like building pyramids, irrigating farmland, commanding a World War II submarine, and operating a drawbridge.
“The idea came around when I was working with the Valparaiso University College of Engineering, and thinking about how to get students interested in mechanical, civil, and electrical engineering,” Shingler said. “There are a lot of fun, engaging activities with engineering, but in school it can seem all just formula and heavy bookwork.
“Then I thought, kids love to play games now. I need to bring them into a gaming environment,” he said.
“We’re driven by two clear facts: that careers in the sciences are somehow perceived as not as prestigious, lucrative, or cool as other careers, and that the gaming software industry has been unwilling to develop quality educational products to address these issues,” Shingler and Schultz state on the product’s Web site, www.software-kids.com.
For the game, which at first was called Time Pod, Shingler thought it would be natural to take a trip to the past. Youngsters’ imaginations could be stimulated by demonstrating the engineering principles behind concepts they were already familiar with. In ancient Egypt, students experiment with ramps, workers, and the type of stone used to build pyramids. In the more recent past, they can design a World War II submarine and radar system. During the Middle Ages, they design a drawbridge and a catapult. The content, delivered through narration, text, and interactive exercises, includes lessons in binary numbers, Boolean logic, weirs and water flow, force, balance, and trajectory.
Because the game encourages creative thinking, students can work through the activities by trial and error. This type of intuitive problem solving is important, Shingler said, but teachers who want to present a more structured method can link the time-period activities to principles in math, science, history, and technology.
The play side of technology: Traveling through time in a video game, youngsters get to sample the fun of solving engineering problems.
In Dan Allen’s computer technology class at King Philip Middle School in Norfolk, Mass., students tie Time Engineers to what they are studying in their core academic classes, particularly world history and math.
For instance, during a Time Engineers section on crop irrigation, students competed to grow the highest percentage wheat yield, while class discussions gave a historical dimension to the game. Students discussed the realities of growing food in ancient Egypt, designing weirs, and diverting water into croplands.
Some students had a slightly more recent take on the game. “It was fun to learn about catapults and drawbridges. We see them in Lord of the Rings movies, but I never knew how they worked,” said one of Allen’s students.
Time Engineers is moving into the future—and into other historical time periods—for version two. It will include deeds of famous inventors, scientists, and engineers of the past. But students can also travel to the future to apply principles in MEMS, nanotechnology, and biomedicine.
“We’re able now to bring more than just the basic mechanical and civil engineering,” Shingler said.
To pique female interest, the new version will also incorporate themes of social impact through engineering in environmental and biomedical fields, and look at contributions made by women and minorities.
“Students now are looking at, how can I make the world a better place and do more for humanity?” Shingler said. “That’s a very strong area we want to get into with Time Engineers.”
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