Games to learn structures
In the digital age, there are startups that aim to teach us structural engineering through play, with our own hands… Do you want to build bridges, iconic buildings, or model structures without leaving home?
The Brazilian company Mola Model has been creating educational games for years that allow you to build structural models, visualize their behavior, and understand the basic principles of structural and civil engineering in a fun way.
Mola is much more than a simple toy. It is an educational tool designed to simulate the behavior of real structures. If you are a student, engineer, architect, or simply passionate about construction, you will love it!
Created by Márcio Sequeira de Oliveira, Mola offers a practical, creative, and playful approach to understanding how shape influences structural efficiency.
It is composed of modules that represent different structural elements; beams, columns, joints, base supports, plates, etc. These can be assembled in multiple ways, allowing you to explore and experiment with different structural configurations.
With its modular pieces, you can build from small models to large complex structures, like suspension bridges or even geodesic domes, and it’s amazing!
It is an innovative educational game that turns structural theory into practice that you can assemble and touch with your hands!
By building and manipulating models, you can observe how forces are distributed, how they deform, or how structures behave under different loads, better than programs to learn structures.
The company offers four models of educational games for structures plus a complementary pack. The latest released this week, the Mola 4 structural kit, through Kickstarter. The features are:
1. Mola Structural Kit 1
This was the first kit launched by Mola Model and focuses on the basic concepts of structural engineering. It includes modules to simulate elements like beams, columns, and simple joints. It is ideal for those just starting to explore the behavior of structures.
2. Mola Structural Kit 2
This kit is an extension of Kit 1 and adds more complexity to the simulations. It allows the construction of more advanced structures and covers concepts like buckling and torsion. It is perfect for advanced students and professionals who want a deeper understanding.
3. Mola Structural Kit 3
Kit 3 introduces components that allow simulating and analyzing three-dimensional structures. With this game, you can model spatial systems with more complex designs.
4. Mola Structural Kit 4
This new pack adds a series of semi-articulated sheets inspired by the world of origami. With this game, you can create much more complex structures and covers. An example:
And the complement of the Mola Structural Expansion Kits, a pack that adds additional pieces to the basic sets, allowing more configurations and simulations. They are ideal for those who already have one of the main kits and are looking for experimentation.
Although we have already seen that there is very good technology to learn structures in the classroom, we still find it too “digital”. We believe that by physically interacting with the elements, learning becomes more effective.
If you want more information and check prices on these educational games to learn structures you can directly visit the official Mola Model page.
Can you imagine being a student and arriving at the structures class where the teacher shows up with a Mola game? What a luxury!
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