Awesome-engineering-games Alternatives

awesome-engineering-games reviews and mentions

• Ask HN: Platform for kids to learn how to code
  2 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 26 Dec 2023

  This is a list that a lot of HNers contributed to a few weeks ago: https://github.com/arcataroger/awesome-engineering-games#hac...

  Some of the games in the hacking section might be kid friendly? 7 Billion Humans comes to mind, especially.

• U.S. students' math scores plunge in global education assessment
  1 project | news.ycombinator.com | 6 Dec 2023

  > Arithmetic teaches systematic manipulation of abstract ideas which is the foundation for programming.

  I know this is the conventional wisdom, that math is the underlying foundation for programming, etc. And I think that's true in the strictest sense: there is certainly a lot of math underlying all our software and hardware.

  But for learning basic programming? Honestly, I don't think it matters at all.

  I was first exposed to programming via Logo (as in the turtle mover), and while there's math there, I never really got beyond "bigger numbers move the turtle further / rotate it more".

  What really taught me logic & programming was the visual Warcraft 3 map editor, basically an early version of Scratch where you would compose logic out of nodes and make things happen in the game. Having that instant visual feedback of seeing units follow your automated commands was much more effective than sitting in a classroom doing math problems. These days there are a bunch more games like that (shameless plug: https://github.com/arcataroger/awesome-engineering-games)

  > Would people use post algebra math more if they knew it? I use calculus regularly when I'm building things for my kids. But I've noticed most people have stopped building things by hand anyway and instead rely on mass manufacture

  Maybe people stopped building things because we focus too much on the theoretical in-classroom parts, as opposed to the hands-on stuff? I bet kids would be much happier, and learn a lot more, if they could swap out math hours for time in the woodshop, on the potter's wheel, or making maps for Roblox or Fortnite or whatever -- none of which require a heavy investment in math at first. (Reminds me of this place: https://www.blueoxmill.com/blue-ox-school.htm, a continuation school for high schoolers who don't do well in the classroom. Instead, they learn woodworking, smithing, print-setting, etc. alongside the basic curricula).

  Then you could ease them into the math by showing them how can it help them make different shapes, then show them how real-world CAD and Unity/Unreal work, etc. Work backwards from instant gratification to ancient theory, and only cover the details if they really care. But otherwise just let them know that somebody else did the hard work (much appreciated) so they can move shapes around on a screen. It's not that different from graphics designers making art without ever having to know how a Bezier curve is calculated.

• Awesome Engineering Games
  1 project | /r/hackernews | 21 Nov 2023
• Show HN: "Awesome" Engineering Games (List)
  1 project | /r/hypeurls | 21 Nov 2023
• Show HN: Engineering Games (List)
  6 projects | news.ycombinator.com | 19 Nov 2023

  The list currently only has Steam games, but this is up for debate: https://github.com/arcataroger/awesome-engineering-games/dis...

  If these older games don't get added there, it might be worth creating a sibling list that this one can link to?

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