At the LEAD Academy, our exams must come in three parts: content knowledge (usually in the form of multiple choice), ACT style questions (in whatever form makes sense for your particular class) and an essay. I decided to get creative with my essay and asked my students to build then summarily describe a level they built inside the Puzzle Maker. They had almost two weeks to work on their projects. I’m pretty happy with their results. For the next few posts, I’ll be spotlighting and describing their levels.
This first level, like many that will follow, lacks coherence or logical design. It looks more like a hodgepodge of random elements, which is pretty common. However, it does show two physics concepts, projectile motion and conservation of energy, and I did not grade on principles of level design. This student wrote an excellent essay about their level and how it relates to physics so they earned an A for this portion of their exam.
Physics with Portals 