assemble “ game pieces ” — anything around B u s i n e s s F i n a n c e

FINAL ASSESSMENT PROJECT HERE

An opportunity to demonstrate the impact of the course on your views of science and technology.

The Science Game

REPORTING on this GAME counts as your Final Assessment.

One of the main objectives of science is to figure out the “rules” of the universe. How will something fall? disintegrate? interact? combine? and so on. Scientists do this by observing, measuring, constructing theories.

Here’s your chance to tackle at least one of the jobs of science: figuring out rules simply by observing.

I call this the Science Game.

First, you’ll need 2 teams, or at least 4 people in all. It’s a chance to involve family/friends, opportunities I like to provide since so many of you are juggling classes, jobs, and families.

Next, assemble “game pieces” — anything around the house or garage that comes in large quantities: paper clips, push pins, small toy pieces, marbles, small hair clips, coins, nails, small balls . . . and maybe one or two larger pieces.

Instructions:

2 TEAMS of 2 or more go off separately and make up a game using some or all of the “equipment” — figure out some rules to determine who will “win” the game. It could be something like a board game where pieces are moved around, or it might involve throwing, rolling, whatever!

After a specified amount of time, Team 1 will play the game in front of Team 2, silently! Team 2 has to figure out the rules—how to play, how to score, how to win—just by watching Team 1 play.

Then, of course, reverse and Team 1 will watch Team 2 play.

The takeaway is that you’ve mimicked the way a scientist has to watch a “silent” universe behave and figure out its rules. The law of gravity, the 2nd law of thermodynamics, E=mc² — all of these have come about by watching nature play its game.

Scientists’ jobs are a little tougher — they can’t eventually just ask!

I hope you have fun also!

REPORTING on this GAME counts as your Final Assessment.