/ PATHWAYS / Educational / Paul's Inspiration To Study Aviation
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Over the course of several years, Paul developed a fascination with planes and flight. This started with a cursory interest in some of the war games that let you fly planes but steadily grew as he worked his way through other games that offered the chance to fly things.
Outcome Choosing to study Physics and Geography to understand the dynamics of flight and air travel.
This outcome arises from the following 5 milestones over the span of 4 years, from 11 - 15 years-old:
Age: 11-years-old / 01/01/2014 / 11 years ago
Play Styles: Child Helps Parent Play (Associative Play)
Platform: PC
Although Paul enjoyed a range of battle games, it was those that offered a chance to fly planes that he enjoyed the most.
Activities: Paul found that the following related activities worked alongside playing War Thunder:
Age: 12-years-old / 01/01/2015 / 10 years ago
Play Styles: Child and Parent Play Together (Cooperative Play)
Platform: iOS
Paul discovered Lifeslide, a game that lets you control a gliding paper plane through an environment. He was fascinated by this kind of unpowered flight as it was similar to the model planes he made. He played the game repeatedly trying out different techniques to get better scores on the levels and progress further. Because he played it on his iPad he was able to show the rest of the family. Some evenings they would sit together before he went to bed and take turns to fly the paper planes in the game.
Activities: Paul found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Lifeslide:
Age: 13-years-old / 01/01/2016 / 9 years ago
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Paul enjoyed the flight mechanics of Feather, as it expanded from fixed structures of planes to moveable wings. This also connected him with how the landscape can affect flight with valleys and other features.This led to him taking a trip to the Bird Sanctuary in his local area that included a Falconry session. This further inspired Paul about the idea of flight and how these birds use their mechanics and the landscape to catch their prey.
Activities: Paul found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Feather:
Age: 14-years-old / 01/06/2017 / 7 years ago
Play Styles: Child Plays Independently (Independent Play)
Platform: Nintendo 2DS|3DS
Paul dug out his old 3DS and purchased the game Air Traffic Controller on the eShop. He enjoyed learning how complex an airport is. In particular, he embraced understanding each of the different phases a plane goes through as it approaches, descends, lands, taxis and disembarks at a gate.The game was good at demonstrating how airports need to be well run with tight systems to ensure the air traffic is safe and efficient. Paul particularly enjoyed the challenges where a plane had to make an emergency landing.
Activities: Paul found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Air Traffic Controller (Airport Hero):
Age: 15-years-old / 01/01/2018 / 7 years ago
Platform: Xbox Series X|S
Paul saved up for a new console so he could play Microsoft Flight Simulator. This took some persuading as his parents weren't sure the investment would be beneficial.Since having the game, Paul now runs weekly excursions for the family. They gather in the evening and suggest places they want to visit. A holiday destination, somewhere they grew up, a point of interest in the locality, or sometimes just a city they have heard of.Microsoft Flight Simulator lets Paul try out a wide range of planes, times of day, airports and weather. He has kept a logbook of all the flights he has taken.
Activities: Paul found that the following related activities worked alongside playing Microsoft Flight Simulator:
The culmination of the milestones in the pathway led to Paul choosing to study Physics and Geography to understand the dynamics of flight and air travel. We have described it as a linear journey, but of course, there is always a fair amount of back and forth between the games they played.
Along with the main outcome Paul also changed in the following ways:
We focus on how games contribute to this outcome, but also include related activities that play a part of this journey: