Students learn to use the principles of magnetism to help the people of the imaginary planet ‘Magnetoss' trap and relocate a crazed robot that has been terrorizing their village.

It's perfect for individualising classroom instruction and ideal as a self-motivating homework task.

Special Features:

Each 3D mission further develops students' understanding of magnetism.

Attractive, easily accessible reference material includes interactive displays and explanatory videos.

The interactive puzzles require the same type of thinking used in real life science experiments.

Each mission concludes with a very short self-correcting multiple choice test to reinforce student learning.

The entire learning unit was specifically designed to appeal equally to both girls and boys.

Scroll Down for more information about The Siege of Magnetoss. Contents Game Objective The story The reference pages The puzzles The challenge tasks Using the game Science content What users think Game Objective The game's objective is to assist in teaching the topic of magnetism to junior secondary school science students. Scientific principles are the tools the students use to solve problems within the context of the three-dimensional game. It has been our policy to fully integrate the science with the game play, providing motivation to learn through gaming. Content is loosely based around Australian school syllabus requirements. Emphasis has been placed on understanding general concepts, as well as targeting some areas that are less well understood by students. The game specifically avoids controversial issues often found in ‘entertainment' computer games, such as violence and gender bias. The story The player takes on the personality of "Selwyn Ogilvie" or "Ariadne Peabody" and must use principles of magnetism to gain access to the village and deactivate a crazed robot that is terrorizing the citizens of Magnetoss! The reference pages Pages of background information appear automatically as the player moves around the game. More detailed reference pages are available at any time via “Info computers” in the game levels. The puzzles At different points within each level, students must solve puzzles that simulate science experiments. These are easy and fun to complete and broaden the student‘s experience of science within the game.  The challenge tasks Students are unable to proceed to the next mission until they have completed a challenge task designed to test their understanding of the scientific ideas pertaining to the previous mission. Using the game Although it is designed to be used in the classroom, this game is similar in game play to many other 'entertainment games' students play at home providing significant motivation for learning to occur. The game is aimed at the junior secondary level, but younger and older students enjoy playing it. Since the game is a self-teaching unit it can be used to help teachers cater for individual differences within the classroom. It can be used to extend younger and/or brighter students, to help slower students to catch up with the class, or for revision in Years 11 and 12. The game is expected to take students 1 - 1.5 hours to complete, fitting comfortably in a normal lesson, or lesson/homework situation. Students can play the game through in sequence, or select a mission. This allows teachers to identify missions they want students to play and makes the game suitable for use with a class for a whole lesson as an introduction to magnetism, or for revision, or to supplement a particular section of the topic. Science content in The Siege of Magnetoss The educational component of the game follows a learning sequence designed by experienced science teachers. It has divided the topic of magnetism into five separate ‘missions'. Mission 1: Common items that contain magnets. Magnets attract iron. Mission 2: Ferromagnetism. The compass. Composition of permanent magnets. Mission 3: North and south magnetic poles. The Earth as a magnet. Magnetic force. Magnetic shielding. Mission 4: Magnetic fields. Magnetic field lines. Mission 5: Electromagnetism. The field around a solenoid. Factors that affect the magnetic field of an electromagnet.

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System requirements for Siege of Magnetoss

We use modern 3D game and physics engines, but have made sure that the graphics will scale back for slower school computers. The game functions well on standard integrated graphics cards used by many schools.

The following comments were received from teachers and students currently using Siege of Magnetoss in their school.

Comments from teachers

"Excellent game with the year 9s, - it was greatly appreciated by both students and teachers."
Ann Burke (Science Teacher)
Trinity Catholic College, Lismore NSW Australia

"My students Yr. 8 and Yr. 9 science have enjoyed the experience and have learnt quite a lot while playing. Incorporating a computer game in to a unit of work was an interesting concept that will take some fine tuning on my behalf but it provided a new way for my students to learn and can be a great incentive activity as well. I particularly liked the experiments included in the game which helped students who don't have good written communication skills to frame conclusions to experiment results. "
Graham O'Sullivan (Science Teacher)
Millmerran State P-10 School, QLD Australia

"It is very pleasing to see the year 10 students enjoying learning about magnetism through a computer game. Well done! "
Nasa Duar (Science Teacher)
Camden Haven High School, NSW Australia

Comments from students

“I actually liked it. I liked it how its got interesting questions, and you will need a bit of help if you are in primary school or my age - I had to ask my mum to help me, I liked that my mum could help. . . . . . . . I liked that you would be able to be asked questions about science and magnets, and it would be good for kids who are learning about science and magnets, because the game asks you interesting questions about it. "
Mitchell, Year 4

 ”It was very good especially for an Education game because there usually boring”
Tim, Year 7

 “Awesome game Very educational”
Anonymous, Year 7

 “With good graphics and sound system, it is the perfect game for all those wannabe scientists”
 Matthew, Year 7

 “It was a interesting game which wasn't just a game but also involved you stretching your mind. It showed how much you can learn while still having fun. 9/10”
Anonymous, Year 11

 “This game is awesome fun and very educational”
Anonymous, Year 11

 “Like: Learning about other physics stuff etc. Graphics and game play are cool for school game.”
 Anonymous, Year 11

 “Really interesting and teaches well. Like the idea. Maybe a little short for those that play computer games often.”
Anonymous, Year 11