Rovio's Angry Birds become physics teachers

If the Angry Birds have taught us one thing in their pig-bashing exploits, it's that what goes up must come down. It just so happens that this common knowledge is grounded in physics, the scientific study of motion and matter ... and my worst enemy. Luckily for the mega nerds out there--who we pray will sort out this whole "How did we get here" mess at some point--Angry Birds has become an ideal tool to teach physics to kids.

The Western New York State Physics Teachers' Alliance (WNYSPTA) has agreed that the mighty iPhone game just might be able to hit home with the game-savvy kids these days, Pocket Gamer reports. So, Michael Magnuson of the WNYPTA released a series of videos each proposing a question, and a video of the Angry Birds animating the problem to be solved.

1. Make a reasonable estimate for the size of an angry bird, and determine the value of g in Angry Bird World. Why would the game designer want to have g be different than 9.8 m/s²?


The first of five is shown above. Honestly, I couldn't figure out a bit of these problems for you (writing is my strong suit--go figure), so try the rest over at Action-Reaction if you're confident in your number-crunching and complex theorizing abilities. A little familiarity with Angry Birds helps too, so be sure go play some more to avoid these insane word problems get yourself reacquainted.

[Image Credit: Download Squad]

Have you been able to figure out any of these brain busters yet? What do you think of teachers using video games as tools in the classroom? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.