Bill Nye Kickstarts a game to teach kids about aerodynamics

US science educator and TV host Bill Nye has opened a Kickstarter for an iPad game that teaches kids about the physics of flight.

We all know, more or less, how video games work. But when you're playing a game, you're actually learning a lot of things: how the game's controls work, how the physical game world moves and responds to your presence, where you can and can't go and the many minute adjustments and movements you need to make for maximum precision.

Bill Nye and non-profit educational games developer GameDesk, which has been working on the game for some time, are hoping to tap into that process to teach kids something really cool: the physics of flight.

The game is called Aero, and it will see players taking control of a bird that is in flight in a massive open world to figure out how things like wings and propulsion work in the sky.

According to the Kickstarter page, it features:

• Full exploratory world with multiple islands and caves to explore. Land on, take-off from and explore every island
• 15+ challenges: flight-based and aerodynamic-learning challenge rings
• Aerodynamic flight lessons: five fully-developed interactive aerodynamic lessons teaching lift, drag, thrust, constant and terminal velocity, gravity, banking, turning and more
• A full soundtrack.

Best of all, it actually looks really fun. You can find the Kickstarter page here to read more and contribute.