Beanstalk Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy

The game asks for gender and age, in order to track learning effectiveness. No personal identifying information is tracked or kept. Game usage is logged via anonymous IDs in order to improve the game's educational effectiveness.

Summary

Beanstalk is a game developed to teach children ages 5-11 balance and fulcrum principles. The game is based on Siegler's cognitive development work with a balance scale [1, 2], teaching principles governing the sum of cross products rule that can be used to determine whether a scale will balance, given a particular configuration of weights on each side of the fulcrum. The game levels are designed to help children progress through four increasingly sophisticated mental models identified by Siegler:

• (1) paying attention to weight, not distance;
• (2) considering distance, but only when weight is equal on both sides;
• (3) considering both weight and distance, with cues in congruity;
• (4) both the amount of weight and distance of weights from the fulcrum; if the cues suggest different outcomes, the sum of cross products rule is applied.

• [1] R. S. Siegler, "Three aspects of cognitive development," Cognitive Psychology, vol. 8, pp. 481-520, 1976.
• [2] R. S. Siegler and Z. Chen, "Development of Rules and Strategies: Balancing the Old and the New," J. Experimental Child Psychology, vol. 81, pp. 446-457, 2002.