If you’re training your child to be the next Steve Jobs, there’s no need to take them away from their computer, their Xbox or their iPhone. Plenty of great teaching tools exist for these media if you know where to look. The best time to learn is at a young age when the brain is still developing, but it’s never too late to start learning new skills. Here are some old and new games that can teach you or your child all about engineering and profiteering.
1. Roller Coaster Tycoon
Since the late 90s, Roller Coaster Tycoon has been letting new generations of gamers create and maintain their own amusement parks. Players use a tile-based construction system to build roller coasters and log flumes, determining each ride’s size and steepness and adding features like zero-gravity rolls and vertical loops. However, Roller Coaster Tycoon will not let you build haphazardly. Structures must hold up and be regularly maintained to prevent crashes and keep customers from getting sick. The original version is now available for Xbox, and the newest version is on the Nintendo 3DS. Android and iOS versions are in the works.
2. X Construction
This app for Android devices requires players to build bridges across valleys using a set number of beams and cables. When you think you have a sound structure, test your creation by driving a train across it. You can fix minor weakness, but a poor build will send passengers falling to their doom. Each puzzle can have more than one solution, but beating this game will require mastery of basic engineering practices like triangulation.
3. Civilization
Sid Meyer’s classic sim game charges players with guiding an agrarian society through millennia of environmental and technological changes to emerge as a global empire. History progresses in realtime from the pyramids to the space age. Players must take advantage of new technologies to stay afloat in the global community, a great lesson for budding engineers and urban planners. A version of Civilization is now playable on Facebook while the most recent entry in the series is available as a stand alone computer game.
4. Survival Master
This 8th grade level teaching tool helps students develop problem solving skills in the context of a survival challenge. Equipped only with basic algebra and raw materials, players must create a virtual emergency shelter in a given environment. Different scenarios are available that focus on different skills. The designers use elements from various game genres such as puzzles, platforms and action games to explain concepts like surface area and heat flow, all of which students must understand to complete challenges. This game could easily be adapted into a classroom project for which students build actual shelters from their virtual models.
5. Tetris
This is no joke – several studies have confirmed that Tetris and its hundreds of spinoffs improve cognitive functioning. Playing Tetris produces real chemical changes in the brain, making the cerebral cortex grow thicker. Objects must fit perfectly together to be structurally sound, so anyone who masters Tetris is well on their way to being an expert builder. A confirmed side-effect of prolonged gameplay is seeing rotating Tetris blocks when you close your eyes, which is probably a lot better than what your kids normally see when their eyes are shut.
