I produced this project for the Smithsonian Science Education Center in 2018. This press announcement was originally published on SmithsonianMag.com.

The Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) has announced the release of Tami’s Tower: Let’s Think About Engineering, an educational engineering design game that will help teach students how to design a solution to a problem using basic engineering design principles. In the game, students must help Tami, a golden lion tamarin, reach fruit by building a tower with blocks. Students will need to be on the lookout for alligators, pandas and elephants that may topple the tower as they run by.

Educational features in Tami’s Tower: Let’s Think About Engineering include alignment with national science standards, an in-game tutorial, prompts that support metacognition, a sandbox mode to facilitate deeper learning and engineering design tips.

“If you are looking for a fun way to get your K-2 students thinking about engineering and metacognition, Tami’s Tower is it,” said Brian Mandell, director of curriculum and communications at the Smithsonian Science Education Center. “The Smithsonian Science Education Center believes that ‘Tami’s Tower’s combination of animated Smithsonian animals, bewildering building-block challenges and research-based metacognitive prompts can help our youngest learners become their own teacher.”

Funding for Tami’s Tower: Let’s Think About Engineering was provided by a Youth Access Grant from the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of the Associate Provost for Education and Access.

Tami’s Tower: Let’s Think About Engineering was developed by the Smithsonian Science Education Center and is available for free at the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon Apps & Games Store and online at scienceeducation.si.edu/tamis-tower.