May the Forces Be With You
Physics mini-games fall short of educational connections.
Kids say
Based on 2 reviews
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May the Forces Be With You
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this app.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that May the Forces Be With You is a physics-focused educational app for kids. The educational content is text-based with some videos and interactive examples. There are speaker buttons to press for kids who want to listen to the text. Navigation may not be intuitive for many kids, especially since the mini-games lack directions and controls are finicky. There are links to the publisher's other apps from the main screen, but they are blocked by a simple math parent gate. Read the developer's privacy policy for details on how your (or your kids') information is collected, used, and shared and any choices you may have in the matter, and note that privacy policies and terms of service frequently change.
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What’s It About?
MAY THE FORCES BE WITH YOU invites kids to explore physics concepts like gravity, friction, magnetism, pendulums, pulleys, and levers. Kids can read about some of the main concepts and see examples of how they work before playing the five mini-games. Mini-games involve storming a castle with a catapult, use magnets to create a path, swinging a pendulum to knock down a tower, using pulleys to build a structure, and stacking blocks to create a ramp. The games have three levels: earth, moon, and space. All of the level needs to be completed before you can move on to the next level.
Is It Any Good?
Games are a great way to teach physics concepts, but only if you're able to tie the activities to the educational content. May the Forces Be With You is a bright and colorful experience, but it's disjointed, confusing, and sometimes frustrating. The educational content is all located in one area of the app marked with a question mark. Some of the information is interesting, but many of the areas stop short of really getting kids to understand. Once kids enter the mini-games, there are no instructions or connection to what they are supposed to be learning. While there's "help" available for the games, it doesn't explain anything about what is going on or how to proceed. Controls can be glitchy and hard to use, and on multiple occasions the controls stuck with and couldn't move anything. There's no explanation of how the games might differ between the earth, moon, and outerspace levels. May the Forces Be With You unfortunately feels like an incomplete experience that could be cool with fewer glitches and a seamless blend of games and learning.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the physics prinicples featured in May the Forces Be With You. What are some examples of gravity, friction, and magnetism around your house?
Families can talk about learning with apps. Do you think this is a good app for learning? Why or why not? What can you learn?
App Details
- Devices: iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad
- Subjects: Science: gravity, physics
- Skills: Thinking & Reasoning: hypothesis-testing, solving puzzles
- Pricing structure: Paid ($2.99)
- Release date: March 3, 2020
- Category: Educational Games
- Topics: STEM, Cats, Dogs, and Mice, Space and Aliens
- Publisher: Learny Land S.L.
- Version: 1.0
- Minimum software requirements: iOS 9.0 or later
- Last updated: April 21, 2020
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