The Obligatory
"Play safe. Ski only in clockwise direction. Let's all have fun together."
Monday, April 03, 2006
Teachers Realize 'Civ' is Good for Learnin'
I remember back when I first got the game "Civilization." I got it - copied, naturally - onto four 3.5" blue floppy disks.
Immediately, my already geography-lovin' mind took to the game, and I was hooked for the series. Through middle and high schools, the knowledge and concepts in the Civlopedia, the government types, the city names of ancient empires, all permeated themselves into my brain.
Sid Meier's lesser-known Civ spinoff Colonization was one of the most hyper-complex games I've ever played. Dozens of specialty citizen-types (lumberjacks, miners, trappers, farmers, statesmen, preachers, scouts, soldiers, etc.), terrain-types, and native nations - each with their own agendas. It also had an extensive trade goods system, which added another entire layer of information to the game.
Civ II added military units and even more systems, and all those long gaming sessions fighting the Mongolians or developing silver mining colonies paid off on more than their fair share of tests and essays. Even though college.
Now it seems like teachers are noticing.
The series got acclaim at last year's "Games in Education Conference," and fansite Planet Civilization just reported that Firaxis opened up a section of their site specifically for teachers who want to use the game in the classroom.
More positive attention to games like the Civilization and SimCity series is well deserved. The accessibility and immersion of these complex systems encourages the players to explore, problem-solve, investigate, and learn in ways that regular ol' textbooks can't do. Of course, it's important not to solely use video games for these subjects, but it's a great way to make seemingly impossible-to-understand concepts easy to grasp.
Try to explain to a student the relationship between industrial and developing economies, and it gets boring. But watch as they discover that investing in factories to produce finished goods in Colonization ends up being profitable, and they get it. Then watch as they start to seize raw materials from weaker nations, and you'll see they get it even more.
Not all video games are about beatin' up hookers.
... and look at all the information on that screen!
if you're interested, you can download the Abandonware of Colonization here. Go Dutch!
Immediately, my already geography-lovin' mind took to the game, and I was hooked for the series. Through middle and high schools, the knowledge and concepts in the Civlopedia, the government types, the city names of ancient empires, all permeated themselves into my brain.
Sid Meier's lesser-known Civ spinoff Colonization was one of the most hyper-complex games I've ever played. Dozens of specialty citizen-types (lumberjacks, miners, trappers, farmers, statesmen, preachers, scouts, soldiers, etc.), terrain-types, and native nations - each with their own agendas. It also had an extensive trade goods system, which added another entire layer of information to the game.
Civ II added military units and even more systems, and all those long gaming sessions fighting the Mongolians or developing silver mining colonies paid off on more than their fair share of tests and essays. Even though college.
Now it seems like teachers are noticing.
The series got acclaim at last year's "Games in Education Conference," and fansite Planet Civilization just reported that Firaxis opened up a section of their site specifically for teachers who want to use the game in the classroom.
More positive attention to games like the Civilization and SimCity series is well deserved. The accessibility and immersion of these complex systems encourages the players to explore, problem-solve, investigate, and learn in ways that regular ol' textbooks can't do. Of course, it's important not to solely use video games for these subjects, but it's a great way to make seemingly impossible-to-understand concepts easy to grasp.
Try to explain to a student the relationship between industrial and developing economies, and it gets boring. But watch as they discover that investing in factories to produce finished goods in Colonization ends up being profitable, and they get it. Then watch as they start to seize raw materials from weaker nations, and you'll see they get it even more.
Not all video games are about beatin' up hookers.
... and look at all the information on that screen!
if you're interested, you can download the Abandonware of Colonization here. Go Dutch!
that one guy you know, 3:17 PM
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1 Comments:
Oh heck yes. I loved Colonization. Best part? The MIDI "Turkey and the Straw" you can get in the background.
