Pedagogy
Electromagnetism has traditionally been difficult for students to grasp, for the following three reasons.

Many of the laws are counter-intuitive. Students approach new topics with preconceptions of how the world works, and use the new knowledge to build upon these notions. Since EM laws work in a way opposite to the preconceived ideas of most students, many physics students fail to retain or understand the information they are taught. In fact, while some students may be able to memorize key concepts for the purposes of answering test questions, they will most likely revert to their preconceptions soon after.

This science is not explicitly visible in students’ everyday interactions in the world around them. Unlike many concepts in physics, students cannot directly see the consequences of electric and magnetic phenomena in their daily life. Thus, students do not develop an intuitive sense, resulting in a greater struggle for understanding.

Instructors cannot give their students direct experience with science like Maxwell’s laws. Maxwell’s laws involve complex phenomena that can only be depicted abstractly, so instructors find it difficult to convey the concepts to their students via direct experience examples and demonstrations.

SuperCharged! is a unique approach to teaching Electromagnetism, specifically tailored to address the known challenges in Electromagnetism education. EM-Urgency combines interactive gaming technologies and creative 3D displays to create a virtual world built on the physics of Maxwell’s laws. This world will provide an environment that will enhance the learning and intuition of students, as well as motivate them with engaging, goal-oriented scenarios.

Electromagnetism Education.
"ScienceSpace"used virtual reality technologies to immerse learners in electromagnetic worlds. Chris Dede and colleagues showed that learners using VR headsets to experience an electromagnetic world gained experiential intuition about concepts. Learners felt immersed in a world of Maxwell’s laws, an experience that most test students enjoyed and found more effective than traditional textbook learning.

A part of effective science instruction comes from cultivating students’ ability to predict scientific phenomena. John Belcher, an MIT physicist and faculty partner for this project, also believes that without a thorough intuitive comprehension of science concepts, quantitative formulas have little intrinsic meaning to a student. By interacting with the game or visualization, students will gradually develop an intuitive sense of how the virtual world works. At the close of their research, Dede and colleagues suggested that future iterations of immersive worlds might benefit from embedding game-like structures in the experience, so that players are compelled to interact with these worlds. Today’s learners expect game-like interactivity in their experience of virtual worlds.

Students' progress through the game can be used to assess players' understandings of electromagnetism. By analyzing a data file with statistics such as level completion time and the number of gameplay errors, an instructor can access additonal information on students' performance. A student can focus solely on gameplay and level advancement, without the distraction of strict assessment.

SuperCharged! will also include an editor that can be used by players to build their own levels. Using a click-and-drag style interface, players will be able to quickly and easily design complex levels which can be immediately played or traded with other players over the internet. By designing and building entertaining levels for SuperCharged!, a player proves not only their creativity, but also their mastery of the scientific content. While the editor is available to all players, those players who have the greatest understanding of Maxwell’s laws will be able to devise the most playable and interesting levels. The learning theory of constructionism is the notion that people acquire new knowledge with effectively when they are engaged in constructing products that are personally meaningful to them. Thus, the very process of building a level from scratch will reinforce the learned concepts, as well as motivate the builder to play their own puzzle. In addition to the assessment generated by statistical tracking of the player’s progress, SuperCharged! players and their instructors can also assess their learning by the creativity and playability of their level designs.

Copyright 2002, MIT.