Interesting column from MIT

Ribannah · October 1, 2003, 19:03

Soon, everybody will 'know' about the Dutch UU. Not to mention the advantage of placing cities in a ring around the capital.

link

Quote:

.... Often, we hear that there is no market for educational games, but in fact, some of the most commercially successful games – Sim City , Civilization – inform as well as entertain. These games are already being used in classes, but industry and academic researchers can develop customized modifications, curricular materials, instructional activities, and teacher training programs to expand their use. Kurt Squire, for example, has been introducing Civilization 3 into high school geography and history classes, enabling students new insights into the role of geography and resources in shaping political and economic developments – and inspiring them to turn textbooks into cheat books. ....

Lord_Davinator · October 1, 2003, 19:10

a nice idea but I hope these teachers realize the limitations of civ as not being entirely geographically or historically that accurate...

Theseus · October 1, 2003, 20:35

I've always thought that Civ would be an excellent vehicle for teaching the sweep of world history as portrayed in Jared Diamond's "Guns Germs and Steel."

When we get around to a RL game in AU, I'll want to see the structure of reporting (and possibly even some creative modding) revolve around some of the major identified issues... north - south barriers, east - west homogeneity, large animals, natural resources, pop density, etc.

Very cool.

Killazer · October 3, 2003, 12:51

civ3 is a nice sim/strategy but its far from real world accurate. It gives a nice general feel tho for the evolution of mankind and conflict.

Ecthy · October 4, 2003, 05:33

Some guys have posted in OT before that they were going to introduce their classes to Civ.

Maybe Kurt Squire is one of us

superslug · October 4, 2003, 09:30

Quote:

Originally posted by Ribannah
Not to mention the advantage of placing cities in a ring around the capital.

IIRC, the ring city exploit is going to be 'fixed' in Conquests, but I could be mistaken on that.

Ribannah · October 4, 2003, 14:58

We'll see. Hey, there can be a refresher course!

Datajack Franit · October 7, 2003, 15:56

I think games should be used as a form of personal improvement only, teachers are not ready for this- I learned way more things about history and geography playing Gabriel Knight and Simcity than in years of bookthumping at school

The Eliminator · October 7, 2003, 16:42

Lord_Retardinator, don't you get it? The teacher can mod his own map, and it becomes a lot more tangible than a wall hanger from 1968.

SirOsis · October 8, 2003, 01:15

I think that Civ3 is great to teach concepts such as:

Terrain plays a huge role in battles and development of cities
Certain resources are important for technologies
Rivers aided civilizations
Others as well but I am too tired to think about them

All you need is a bit of interest perhaps peaked when they read about the leader and the civilization. It also would take some guiding by the teacher but I think that Civ3 is a great educational tool.

Datajack Franit · October 10, 2003, 19:39

A teacher is supposed to teach boring stuff so that people will look for interesting datas in computer games, internet and books