Are you looking for a fun way to teach scientific method? Want a way to engage your students? You need to try Science Pirates here is a quick break down of the game

Science Pirates: The Curse of Brownbeard allows game players to explore an island, observing pirates poor handwashing behavior, and come to understand why pirates believe they are cursed with a “sickness of the bowels”. The end game activity allows players to design and conduct an experiment to test the best handwashing method, interpret the results, and make recommendations to the good captain. While exploring the island in search of three map pieces to Captain Brownbeard’s hideout, the game player engages in hypothesis design in the Super Tiki Monkey Temple; explores and identifies the differences between independent variables, dependent variables, and constants; and reduces experimentation to one variable at a time in the Powder Monkey. In addition, vocabulary and basic scientific content is presented in engaging ways.

I went through this game with my third grade class. I did all the moving of the character and my hyperactive boys were still very engaged. There are some songs that can be accessed by Youtube and iTunes. The game was fun even for a teacher. What I would do after going through the game, talk about what the students thought and what they liked (I am sure they will like shooting the sea monsters). You do need to make sure students read everything and to pay attention so they can actually learn.

Check it out and tell me what you think. If you want to add follow up questions you would ask, please add them. I added this as part of our school’s computer curriculum for the 4th and 5th grade. Have fun being a PIRATE!