Technology & Learning - September 2007 - (Page 20)

Learning Company’s Oregon Trail pioneered this market, allowing students to retrace the steps of history and to bring to life the challenges and decisions that settlers faced. The Serious Games initiative, spearheaded by Ben Sawyer, is a consortium of developers and academics that is building games for edu- the role of a field researcher helping a community wrestling with declining water quality. As they explore the world, they interview loggers, environmentalists, municipal workers, and native tribes. They also take measurements and use the scientific method to understand what they are seeing. Students make recommendations for how to deal with the problems that balance science, social equity, and economics. A related concern is the perception that any game used in the class- In the examples given above there is no right answer, only multiple paths to success, and there is as much to be learned from failure as from success. Most important, the games encourage students to use core academic skills in the pursuit of solving complex problems. Thinking deeply, not flicking buttons, is key. Above: The ReDistricting Game actually makes drawing congressional districts exciting. Right: Titles like Peacemaker can increase players’ awareness of international issues, like peace negotiations in the Middle East. MYth #2–Ω Games are just about violence and sex. Some notorious games like Grand Theft Auto (Rockstar Games) and Postal (Running with Scissors) have drawn press and political attention for extreme violence and sexual situations. Given the level of coverage these titles have earned it is easy for those who are not exposed to the much larger gaming world to assume that all games are like this. In fact, there have always been lots of video games that don’t fit this profile. Venerable titles like SimCity (Maxis), which allows users to build and manage a metropolis, and Civilization (Firaxis Games), where players guide a civilization from its founding to the space age, have been used in classrooms for years. The 20 | www.techlearning.com cational, social, military, medical, and corporate environments. Recent titles have tackled subjects like Mid-East negotiations (Peacemaker), refugees (United Nations World Food Programme’s Food Force), global warming (CO2FX), mental calisthenics (Nintendo’s Big Brain Academy), gerrymandering (the ReDistricting Game), and environmental studies (Quest Atlantis). The military has successfully used games to simulate the cultural negotiation needed in Iraq to give soldiers an opportunity to practice before going overseas. In Quest Atlantis, players focus on environmental issues as they assume room has to compete with the slick production values of commercial games. This too turns out to be false. A good example is the ReDistricting Game from USC’s Annenberg Center, which challenges players to draw up new congressional districts. This simple, Web-based game (anyone with a browser can play) puts the player in the hot seat to meet a range of conflicting goals by juggling demographic data, legal requirements, and political demands. You have to satisfy members of your own party while also satisfying a judge’s legal review, incumbents of both parties, and citizen feedback. In the http://www.techlearning.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Technology & Learning - September 2007

Technology & Learning - September 2007 Contents Editor’s Desk News & Trends Product Guide Reviews Getting It Wrong Cover Story: SchoolBiz School CIO Higher Ed Integration How To What’s New Bottom Line

Technology & Learning - September 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.