Pingus Penguins: Writing Good Instructions
Students use the free computer game Pingus to learn how engineers, specifically environmental engineers, use their technical writing skills to give instructions and follow the instructions of others. Students learn to write instructions to express their ideas in clear, organized ways using descriptive, un-ambiguous sentences, as an example of one type of technical writing that important for engineers. The students write instructions enumerating how to beat a game level, which represents surveying that level for environmental problems. As a test of their instructions, students review each others' instructions and offer suggestions for improvement, and then revise their instructions to make them better. Students also see some examples of environmental problems.
An example Pingus game screenshot.Copyright 2010 Ingo Ruhnke grumbel@gmx.de http://pingus.seul.org/screenshots.html
Because poorly written, unclear instructions can be at least frustrating and at worst dangerous, it is important for engineers to cultivate the technical writing skills to write clear, descriptive, and concise instructions. For example, software engineers must read or write instructions that show how to correctly use all the features of advanced computer software such as the computer system that controls a dam for a river. An environmental engineer might write instructions on how to locate and mitigate sources of water contamination to help keep a town's drinking water safe for use.
After this activity, students should be able to:
- Explain why engineers need to give and receive clear instructions.
- Write clear instructions that another person can follow.
- Test written instructions; give critical and constructive feedback to the author.