October 30, 2024

What is a Fortnite Physics Playground?

45 minutes

In this episode of the Digital Learning Today Podcast, Jeff welcomes Andrew Vanden Heuvel onto the show to discuss how he is using Fortnite to teach complex scientific principals to students of all ages.

If you are a new listener to TeacherCast, we would love to hear from you. Please visit our Contact Page and let us know how we can help you today!

In This Episode …

Video games make awesome laboratories: Virtual worlds make excellent pedagogical tools for science educators. They allow us to bend the laws of reality, enter into life-sized experiments, and recreate famous experiments from history.

Why Fortnite? It's popular, it's playable on almost any device, and it has an incredible set of game creation tools (Fortnite Creative + Unreal Editor for Fortnite). Also, Fortnite's Replay mode can turn Fortnite into a virtual production studio, enabling amazing storytelling projects far beyond the scope of our science project.

Fortnite and the Metaverse: I would argue the Fortnite can/should be thought of as one of the most widely adopted "metaverse" platforms available, and that (as such), it should be taken seriously by educators, employers, and other adults.

The Fortnite Virtual Laboratory Curriculum: With the support of a MegaGrant from Epic Games, I created a set of virtual lab activities published as Fortnite Islands.

The Fortnite Physics Playground: This free-play Fortnite island allows students to design their own physics experiments and extract the player's motion data in real-time from the game.

About our Guest:

Andrew Vanden Heuvel is an award-winning science educator recognized for using technology to create immersive learning experiences. He is an online astronomy professor teaching at colleges across the country. Andrew has consulted with organizations like NASA, Google, TED-Ed, and Epic Games to create engaging science content. His greatest joy is sharing his passion for the universe with learners worldwide, inspiring curiosity while making complex concepts accessible and fun.

Links of Interest

https://www.andrewvh.com

https://www.youtube.com/@AndrewVandenHeuvel

https://www.instagram.com/stembite/

https://x.com/avheuv

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-vandenheuvel/

https://www.andrewvh.com/fortnite-physics

Follow Our Podcast And Subscribe

View All Episodes

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Follow Our Host

Jeff Bradbury | @JeffBradbury

TeacherCast | @TeacherCast

Join Our PLN

Are you enjoying the TeacherCast Network, please share your thoughts with the world by commenting on Apple Podcasts today? I enjoy reading and sharing your comments on the podcast each week.

Let’s Work Together

Host: Jeff Bradbury @TeacherCast | @JeffBradbury

Email: [email protected]

Voice Mail: **http://www.TeacherCast.net/voicemail**

YouTube: **http://www.TeacherCast.net/YouTube**

iTunes: **http://www.TeacherCast.net/iTunes**

Check Out More TeacherCast Programming

The Jeff Bradbury Show

Ask The Tech Coach Podcast

Digital Learning Today

Need A Presenter?

Jeff Bradbury (@TeacherCast) is available as a Keynote Speaker, Presenter, or to Broadcast your conference LIVE!

For More Information: https://www.TeacherCast.net

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

[gravityform id="2" title="true"]

...more

View all episodes

By Jeffrey Bradbury - TeacherCast Educational Network

4.8

1414 ratings