Whats the name of the game: A review of video games for citizenship education

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Whats the name of the game A review of video
games for citizenship education

• William R. Watson
• Purdue University

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Video Games for Education

• Great promise
• Little evidence

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The Fit Between Video Games and Citizenship
Education

• The Educational Commission of the States
• Make citizenship education experience grounded
  in knowledge and explicitly designed to engage
  students
• Help students express their views in media forms
  that are attractive and familiar to them
• Help students link knowledge gained in an
  abstract form to more concrete everyday
  situations in which it might be used
  (Torney-Purta Vermeer, 2006)

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The Fit Between Video Games and Citizenship
Education

• The re-envisioning of citizenship education in
  todays pluralistic societies
• Movement away from assimilationist views of
  education to helping students develop clear
  cultural community and nation-state identities
  and deep understanding of their roles in the
  global community (Banks, 2001)
• Encourage active participation

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Why Wait?

• Commercial entertainment video games
• Serious Games
• Increased availability of development toolkits
  and engines

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Commercial Entertainment Games

• Civilization (Squire, 2004)
• Europa Universalis (Egenfeldt-Nielsen, 2005)
• Age of Empires
• SimCity

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Serious Games A Force More Powerful
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Serious Games Ayiti The cost of life
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Serious GamesGlobal Conflicts Palestine
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Serious GamesQuest Atlantis
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Serious GameFood Force
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Serious GamesDarfur is Dying
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Serious Games

• Freedom Force 56
• Making History
• Whyville

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Political GamesDemocracy Game
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Political GamesPresident Forever 2008
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Political Games

• Senate Seeker
• Voters Mind
• Particracy
• Jennifer Government NationStates

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Designing a GameGame Mods

• Neverwinter Nights
• Vampire the Masquerade
• Unreal
• Quake
• Half-life
• Elder Scrolls
• Many others

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Designing a GameDevelopment Tools and Engines

• Wintermute
• Dark Basic
• Gamemaker
• Torque Game Engine

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Designing a GameMMORPGS

• Commercial
• Active Worlds
• Multiverse
• Second Life
• Realmcrafter
• Kaneva
• Free/Opensource
• Metaverse
• BYOND
• vbGore
• Xtremeworlds

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Games Are Not Enough

• Learning is not likely to be effective without
  additional instructional support and effective
  strategies (Leemkuil et al, 2003 Oneil et al,
  2005 Wolfe, 1997)

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Games Are Not Enough

• Futurelabs (2005) recommendations for educators
• Be clear about exact learning goals
• Do not feel the need to use every aspect of a
  game
• Students need teacher support to link game
  activities to wider concepts. Provide time for
  review and reflection
• Teachers should assess impact of game
• Not all students enjoy playing games,
  particularly for learning
• Teachers must familiarize themselves with game
• Games require planning and technical support