Happy Atoms helps kids bond with chemistry
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
When chemistry leaps off the textbook page and molecules become something kids can build and hold in their hands, a dramatic reaction occurs: They start to learn about the world in which they live. That’s the premise behind Happy Atoms, a new educational tool developed by Schell Games.
When founder and CEO of Schell Games Jesse Schell was growing up, he was fascinated by chemistry, although his career path ultimately led to computer science. He thought something was missing in the way chemistry was taught — it was like learning the letters of the alphabet but not seeing how those letters form words and more complex language.
“In every classroom, the periodic table is up there, but what is it?” Mr. Schell said. “You don’t really know what it means until you start to get to more advanced chemistry, and even then, there’s this huge focus on what each atom is made of — how many protons, neutrons, electrons. It doesn’t really matter very much to know about that. What matters in our real world is chemical reactions and which chemical compounds can turn into which other chemical compounds. And to understand that, you need to understand how molecules are actually formed.
“The truth is chemistry is interesting. People like building things, and the whole universe is built out of atoms. What could be more interesting than that? We just need to put it in their hands so they actually can do it.”
Happy Atoms project leader Yotam Haimberg is an advanced game designer with Schell Games who has been able to put his background in chemistry to work on this project. One of the key goals behind Happy Atoms is to cultivate curiosity, he said.
“We want kids to play this game and be interested in chemistry. There’s an unfortunate shroud of
it for half an hour and within minutes they could build complex molecular structures and talk about it,” he said.
Happy Atoms is tailored to the upper elementary school age group, although kids as young as 8 can get something out of it. Other levels of instruction built into Happy Atoms can help high school and even collegelevel students.
Happy Atoms is set to launch in November. There are three versions: one with 50 atoms for $159, an introductory set with 17 atoms for $59, and a larger classroom edition with 250 pieces for $799.
Schell Games launched an Indiegogo campaign this summer to help fund the project and raised more than $56,000. The company also received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.
Although the crowdfunding campaign is over, buyers can still preorder the game at its regular price through Indiegogo, while donors who gave to the campaign will get a discount.
“A bigger part of crowdfunding is helping to build an audience of people who care about it and are interested,” Mr. Schell said. “We’ve had around 400 people help back this. What’s nice is when we take this to launch, all those people can be a street team for us, and they can help spread the word that it’s out there.”
Schell Games teamed with Thames & Kosmos, a publisher of science kits and board games, to market Happy Atoms.
Happy Atoms is the result of a lot of interdisciplinary collaboration: software and computer vision and manufacturing experts, educators and chemists. Schell Games worked with the education research and development agency WestEd to ensure that Happy Atoms will be an effective and viable educational tool.
“A lot of people have this hangup about this new digital stuff, [that] maybe the old-fashioned more hands-on is best as opposed to digital,” Mr. Schell said. “But it doesn't have to be an either-or. The two work really well together.”