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CARD AND ROLE-PLAYING GAMES IN PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
Dr. James Chisholm, B.A., M.S., Ph.D., D.M.*
Professor of Physics, Sauk Valley Community College
* Dungeon Master
Motivation
• “Students just want to level up.” speaker unknown
• Why?• Reality is Dumb but Games are Awesome
• Collaboration and Competition
• Ownership and Initiative
• Calabozos y Dragones
I wanna do that!!!
Reacting to the Past• Dr. Mark Carnes, Barnard College
• 13 published games
• Only one sciency
The Pluto Debate
• In 1996, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) voted to “demote” Pluto to dwarf planet status
• It was… controversial.
NASA/JPL, from New Horizons probe
The Pluto Debate
• Inspired by Reacting to the Past games
• Dr. Tony Crider, Elon College
• Students are assigned an actual astronomer to (re-)debate the “demotion” of Pluto as a planet.
• Done over a week (2 lecture + lab)
• Features• Background research
• Students run class
The Pluto Debate
Nine different astronomers
(can double or triple up for larger groups)
The Pluto Debate• Factions
• Collaboration within• Competition without
• Everyone has Secret Objective!• Two Acts plus intermission• Slides provided…
The NASA Game – My Role-Playing Game
• Life in our Solar System?
• Features• Individual Background Research• Ten factions (could double up or create more)• Primary Victory Condition as Leader (P.I.)• Secondary Victory Conditions as Collaborators• Work for Victory Points Extra Credit• Last Week of Classes + Intermission Lecture + Final Exam Time
• Some students who struggle on exams really shine
• Allows non-science students to showcase interests
NASA/JPL from Cassini-Huygens Probe
Give examples of expected writing style…
Dedicated group time in class
Google Docs to work on single document(and for me to monitor)
The NASA Game Students must adapt to changing conditions…
Many ways to form groups & work together
The NASA GameMission: C.E.D.R.I.C. Ceres Extraterrestrial Digging Rover Investigation Coalition
Proton-Proton Cycle
From Understanding our Universe, 2/e, by Palen et al.
By Kelvinsong - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23371669
How the Sun shines:
Hydrogen fuses into Helium
(but a little more complicated)
Proton-Proton Game
Every particle becomes a game card.
The Core – where reactions happen
filled with protons and electrons (solar plasma!)
Draw Pile
Hand
Intermediates (“The Bank”)
Proton-Proton Game
Proton-Proton Game
• Multiple ways to win• 4He, ν, γ
• Learn• Balancing Reactions
• Conservation Laws
Quark!
• There are way more quarks than are needed to make normal matter
• Quarks never found alone, only bound up in other particles hadrons
• Up, Down, Strange – becomes a puzzle, but must obey certain rules…
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Standard_Model_of_Elementary_Particles.svgPublic Domain via Creative Commons LicenseImage credit: Hyak / Martin Savage, eScience Institute, University of Washington.
The Hadrons made of uds quarks:
By Trassiorf - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3245752
By Trassiorf - Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABaryon-octet-small.svg
Baryon octet Baryon decupletMeson nonet
By User:E2m, User:Stannered - Image:Noneto mesônico de spin 0.png, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3915252
Spin 0quark+anti-quark
Spin 1/2 3 quarks (or 3 anti-quarks)
Spin 3/2 3 quarks (or 3 anti-quarks)
Quark!The Particle Zoo
Quark!
• Based upon Gin Rummy• Sets & RunsMesons & Baryons
• Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) sez quarks have color charge
• Red Green Blue
• But are never found isolated!
• Mesons (q + anti-q) must be colorless: color +
• Baryons (qqq) must be “white”: Red + Green + Blue
• Anti-baryons: + +
Avery 18163 Labels on standard playing cards
Quark!
Pyramid Rounds Scoring
Some other resources
Dr. Paul Francis, ANU• The Game of Mog
• Star and Planet Formation Game
• Many, many others…
Classcraft• Gamification framework
inspired by World of Warcraft
