Civilization V will be used for training in schools

Strategic games develop logic and thinking

Civilization v

The times when the experts called video games harmful for not strong children's minds have not yet been erased from memory. There was no talk about the use of computer games in schools, except for special educational programs specially created as interactive textbooks on physics, mathematics, etc. How much the situation has changed in recent decades!

Now, the favorite games of our childhood are beginning to be used in schools for the development of logic and strategic thinking in children.

To date, there have been many scientific studies that show the various effects of the development of mental abilities not only in strategic games, but even in action simulators: from improving problem solving skills to improving learning and memory .
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Almost no one doubts the benefit of strategic simulators anymore: this is an excellent tool for the development of logic, thinking, memory, common horizons, knowledge of economics, sociology, political science, physics, engineering, etc.

Not surprisingly, in recent years, popular computer games are increasingly beginning to be used in the school curriculum.

SimCity

Glasslab was founded as a partnership between academic institutions and gaming studios. The first are interested in adapting computer games for schools and universities, and the second in expanding the market for their games. Glasslab helps both.

One of the first Glasslab released an educational version of the city-planning simulator SimCity in 2013. SimCityEDU training adaptation for schools Glasslab prepared together with the developers of the original simulator from the company Maxis.

In the city simulator SimCity (Micropolis), the essence of the gameplay comes down to the creation of a city, the development of residential and industrial zones, the construction of infrastructure and the collection of taxes for the further development of the city. In the game, as in the real world, it is important to raise the standard of living of the population and maintain a balance between different sectors. Much attention is paid to the issue of ecology.


SimCity 2013

Interestingly, after alpha testing SimCityEDU among schoolchildren and the survey conducted, an interesting side effect was noted: those schoolchildren for whom English is not the main language (usually children of immigrants, including those from Russian-speaking families) often reported using the game to expand academic vocabulary . Simply put, children simply learn new words and scientific terms that they usually do not encounter in everyday life. It is really very important for development.

By the way, in 2008 the author of the game Don Hopkins (Don Hopkins) laid out the source code of the original version of SimCity under the free GPL 3 license. However, to avoid problems with the trademark that is registered to a commercial publisher, the source code and binaries are published under the original name of the game Micropolis . Of course, this original game is a little off schedule for the latest versions of SimCity.


Big developed city in Micropolis

For the SimCityEDU study version, Glasslab has developed a special toolkit for teachers with which they can track student progress and progress. Teachers say that such an assessment is much more objective than a regular exam paper test. When learning from a textbook and checking knowledge in a paper test, you are limited to the number of questions (for example, 100), so you can’t check the student’s knowledge of all topics. And there is no such strong limitation in the game: in SimCityEDU there are more than 3000 data collection points for which an assessment is made. In other words, the evaluation of the game results is more objective than the results of a standard test or a test with a questionnaire. Moreover, learning with the help of the game is something more effective than learning from a textbook.

The tests showed that the game SimCityEDU develops schoolchildren's thinking: they understand the relationship between different areas of activity and the importance of finding a balance. For example, it is impossible to develop only industry, because the construction of hazardous factories will lead to environmental pollution and - as a result - to the deterioration of life, the loss of jobs and the departure of workers to other cities.

But the most important advantage of a computer game over a textbook is that children are much more involved in the educational process. During the game, knowledge is absorbed much more efficiently and to a greater extent than when learning from a textbook. “The students literally go to another world, the game touches them so much,” says Jessica Lindl, who led the SimCityEDU project at Glasslab. - The guys are addicted to the game just as they are addicted to games outside the school. They are really emotionally attached to the inhabitants of their city - they feel like adults, because they got the opportunity to control the lives of people and save them. This is a responsibility that is not usually in the classroom. ”

Minecraft

School children play Minecraft

More recently, Minecraft was prepared for the upcoming school season, for which a special edition of Minecraft: Education Edition has been released . Schools can get the educational version for free. According to the developers, the open world game develops creative abilities, teaches teamwork and teaches problem solving.

Library of starting worlds of Minecraft and examples of lessons for schools


MinecraftEDU

To help teachers developed curricula with examples of training topics. In principle, the game can be used in many lessons. For example, when studying Shakespeare in a literature class, you can load the scene of the English theater of those times in the game - and show how everything actually happened. The game is great for interdisciplinary training in history / geography, literature / music / art, geometry, language (there is a package for learning English and other languages).

The educational version of MinecraftEDU is developed using the same company Glasslab.

Civilization v

The latest addition to the educational line of computer games will be the turn-based global strategy Civilization V Sid Meier. Glasslab promises to advertise the game for high school education by the beginning of the next academic year, that is, in 2017. The training version will be called CivilizationEDU.

We can assume that students will like Civilization V more than any other game.

As in other games of the series, in Civilization V, the player creates and develops his civilization from ancient times to the near future. Although this version removed religion and espionage, the game remained as exciting as previous versions, known to almost every player. (Religion and espionage returned in Civilization V: Gods & Kings.)


Civilization v

The "victory" of the game is achieved in various ways, but many players find pleasure in achieving the dominance of their people over their neighbors.

In the educational version of CivilizationEDU, teachers will have analytical tools at their disposal to evaluate the students' achievements in the game. The game itself acquaints schoolchildren with the most developed civilizations in the history of mankind and with important historical figures. But the developers emphasize that the game “gives schoolchildren the opportunity to show critical thinking and participate in historical events, to consider and evaluate the geographical implications of their economic and technological solutions, as well as to show systems thinking and experiment with cause-effect relationships between the army, technology, policy and socio-economic development. ”


Civilization v

The founder of the series of games, Syd Meier, supports the Glasslab initiative: “Over the past 25 years, we have discovered that one of the most remarkable secrets of Civilization is that you learn during the game,” said Meyer. - We have always focused primarily on entertainment. But we believe that our players, young and old , enjoy such training , even if they don’t always like education. ”

Civilization V - this is a rare opportunity to correct the flaws of the real world, to do everything right, at least in the virtual world.

In the end, unlike in reality, the game always has the opportunity to fly to another planet.