More than 2,500 teachers nationwide are using Portal 2 Puzzle Maker in classrooms to teach students about physics, Fast Company reports.
Puzzle Maker – a set of tools based on Valve's first-person puzzler Portal 2 – was released earlier this year to allow players to create single-player and co-op test chambers. In June it was released to teachers for free as part of the Teach with Portals initiative and since then more than 2,500 teachers have used Portal 2 and Puzzle Maker as educational tools.
Fast Company reports that shortly after the release of the original Portal in 2007, science teachers around the country began using the game in their classrooms to teach physics. With the introduction of Puzzle Maker, students were able to learn through designing their own levels. When Teach with Portals launched in June its website came with lesson plans for physics and math along with placeholders to expand the curriculum to chemistry, game design, language, arts and more.
Portal 2 Puzzle Maker continues to be updated with new features.
