Save Planet Helios from ecological devastation!-3D Game by IBM

IBM has released a 3D game to teach engineering concepts to kids. It comes complete with lesson plans for teachers including one called windturbine design and build challenge. They are working through a group they helped form called TryScience . Read more about IBM and TryScience here. You can read about their other partner, New York Hall of Science as well.

The game is called PowerUp. Players journey to planet Helios and deal with ecological problems. Once there the learners race to save the plant as they build solutions that are ecologically friendly. Playing the game, students work together in teams to investigate the 3D game environment and learn about the environmental disasters that threaten the game world and its inhabitants

Players meet Expert Engineer characters and experience the great diversity of the field. Conversations with these experts and engaging interactive activities allow players to explore ways engineers design and build systems to harness renewable energy sources as alternatives to burning fossil fuels.

The game is free and can be downloaded at the PowerUp Website.

Here is a short video that describes how the game works.

The game was authored using Torque Game Engine Advanced (TGEA) which is only supported on Windows platforms.
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