Alec Gonzalez.
I’m a Regents and AP Physics teacher with a passion for creating engaging educational games. I build scientific reasoning and problem solving into the game mechanics, giving students a meaningful reason to apply what they learn.
A place to put
physics into practice.
I want learning and play to work together. In the games I create, understanding the science helps students make decisions: how to control a ship, plan an approach, or solve a problem along the way. Applying physics is part of how they progress.
First Light Physics puts that approach into practice. The simulation and cadet manual work together. Students make predictions, record their calculations, compare those predictions with what happens, and explain their thinking. A correction becomes another opportunity to understand the motion.
A story gives the
learning a context.
First Light draws on my science-fiction setting, Empires of a Shattered Sky. Flight training and missions give students situations in which their decisions depend on understanding the physics.
Flight School is the most developed part of that approach so far. Torch Bearer is a playable project still in development, exploring how a larger story can create more opportunities to apply those ideas.
Connect the ideas
as the course grows.
The starting point is motion. I’m developing the materials around New York’s physics learning expectations, including connected question clusters that ask students to use shared evidence in several ways.
As students learn more topics, the aim is to bring those topics together in new questions and missions. The project is growing alongside that classroom work.
See the Regents connection ↗Make the Lesson Playable
A short look at classroom simulations and Scenario Studio.
Start with a flight.
Explore a guided lesson, watch a worked example, or look inside the cadet manual.