Civilization III as Mediating ArtifactSocial Studies Issues Civilization III Potential

Low interest (Loewen, 1995) Engaging Anchor (CGTV, 1990)

Poor background knowledge(Beck & McKeown, 1994)

Concepts are tools(Squire, et al., in press)

Disconnected facts(Stearns, Seixas, Wineburg, 2001)

Historical forces over time (Diamond, 1999)

Geography as names Geography as processes

Historical inevitability (Seixas, 2000) Replaying History

Simple historical causality(Loewen, 1995)

Interrelationships among forces

Good guy vs. bad guy (Loewen, 1995) Perspective shifting (Wineburg, 2001)

Students’ voices silenced (Wertsch, 2000)

Agency within constraints(Murray, 1999)

Case I: What Happened?

178Day 1 4 12

Why am I doing this?

Replaying History

This game isn’t bad…

Purposeful Game Play

Post-interview Results

Q: Why did Europeans colonize Americas?– All mentioned technologies, trade– Native Americans did not colonize for cultural reasons

Q: Why is New York City bigger than Boston?– None mentioned geography– 8/8 mentioned immigration– 5 / 8 Centers of trade

Q: “What role were you in the game”– None said president, emperor– All said “game is unrealistic” with no historical analog

Conclusions: Learning

Cursory background knowledge– All had increased familiarity– Minimally 233 game concepts

Students asked many “factual” questions– Students found the Civilopedia ineffective– What is monarchy? Monotheism? Democracy?– Teacher busy with just-in-time lectures (CTGV, 1992)

Taken-as-shared meanings– “Discovering” Bering Strait and Greenland– “Colonial imperialism” – No horses in the Americas

Questions

• Coastal fortresses • mutual protection pacts• the corporation• Refining• Espionage • cavalry • theology • steam power• free artistry

• Does threatening other civilizations had an impact on diplomacy

• What happened when the game ran out of names for new cities

• Can I stay at peace without having to give away his money

Results: Learning

Failure and learning– “Losing forced me to learn about geography”– “The game made me realize I had to trade technologies”

Analysis in support of game play – Which civilization should I be?– Why is colonization not occurring?– What is unrealistic about the game?

World history as interdisciplinary– The right location gives you luxuries which gives you income. More

income gives you technology which affects your politics. It all connects.

Entrée into historical positionality– Money is the key… money is the root to everything. With money you can

save yourself from war, and that also means that in politics you can save yourself with money.

Assertions

Playing Civilization III produced “conceptual tools” – Peninsulas, islands, Gaza Strip, Nova Scotia = tools– Teachers’ and students’ language reappeared in interviews– Isolationism, resources, horses in N. America, infrastructure

History as a “cheat” (i.e. tool) for playing Civilization III – Studying map, Civilopedia– Comparing games

Playing Civilization III mediated students’ understandings– “No matter how it plays out, history plays by the same set of rules.”– “You can’t separate geography from politics from history”

Assertions

Learning read against “real world” and experience– 8/8 responded that role of president was unrealistic– Function of questions, intentions– Socially interpreted through rules, social organization

Students did not detect simulation bias– Management orientation– Geographical / Material reading of history

Failure produced engagement & learning– “Losing forced me to learn about geography”– “The game made me realize I had to trade technologies”

• Revisit our theories of learning– Design assessment implementation

• Study games in context– Some model of context

So what does this mean?

Supercharged!Supercharged! ((8 hours)8 hours)Targeted Conceptual learningTargeted Conceptual learning

Full Spectrum WarriorFull Spectrum Warrior ((40 hours)40 hours)Conceptual learningConceptual learningWays of SeeingWays of SeeingValuing the worldValuing the world

Civilization IIICivilization III ((200 hours)200 hours)Conceptual learningConceptual learningWays of SeeingWays of SeeingValuing the worldValuing the worldSystemic UnderstandingSystemic UnderstandingMultiple perspectivesMultiple perspectives

Lineage IILineage II((200 hours)200 hours)Conceptual learningConceptual learningWays of SeeingWays of SeeingValuing the worldValuing the worldSystemic UnderstandingSystemic UnderstandingMultiple perspectivesMultiple perspectivesIdentitiesIdentities

So what do we do?

Games are about radically different social organizations– Consumer Producer *– Multiple information and attention spaces

Consider some of the mechanisms of games– Choice, Failure, Consequences, Replay– From content Context

You might consider serious games…– Lots of new products– Lots of low-cost solutions (flash, excel)

papers

http://website.education.wisc.edu/kdsquire