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New 'Civilization' Game Will Be Sold To Schools As An Educational Tool (technobuffalo.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the tests-are-history dept.

An anonymous reader writes: In the fall of 2017, a special version of Civilization V will be made available for schools to use as an educational tool. "CivilizationEDU will provide students with the opportunity to think critically and create historical events, consider and evaluate the geographical ramifications of their economic and technological decisions, and to engage in systems thinking and experiment with the causal/correlative relationships between military, technology, political and socioeconomic development," announced Take-Two Interactive Software.

"We are incredibly proud to lend one of our industry's most beloved series to educators to use as a resource to inspire and engage students further..." said the company's CEO. "I can't think of a better interactive experience to help challenge and shape the minds of tomorrow's leaders."
Special lesson plans will be created around the game, and as an alternative to standardized tests teachers will have access to a dashboard showing each student's progress. Of course, this begs an important question: Are educational videogames a good idea?

8 of 198 comments (clear)

  1. WTF is happening by NotInHere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Are schools becoming time waste institutions? why send your kids to school anyway, if they just play some video games. They can do that at home as well, can't they?

    Or is it that teachers have to deal with children whose attention spans have been deformed by their smartphone use?

    I just know that back then when I was in school, the lessons suddenly became hugely unproductive the moment the computers were turned on. Essentially everybody ended up surfing facebook or youtube or something, not doing anything the teacher told them to.

    1. Re:WTF is happening by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You needed computers for that? We could find things to waste our time on and avoid learning without the aid of those damn machines.

      Now get offa my lawn!

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:WTF is happening by GrumpySteen · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The trick is to get kids to understand that history isnt just a series of rote dates to remember (In fact knowing the exact date napoleon was born or whatever is pretty uninteresting to historians) , but a big story with processes that motored it along that we can learn from.

      Yeah, no. The trick is to get TEACHERS to understand that history isn't just a series of rote dates and names to remember. The bulk of most history tests is exactly that, so any kid that doesn't do the rote memorization and regurgitation will fail.

    3. Re:WTF is happening by ultranova · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Had they tied that in with history it might actually have led to an understanding of WHY our world is the way it is.

      The problem is, the forces which shaped our present are still around, Capitalism most notably. It's not possible to examine their past without commenting on their nature, which will always step on some entrenched interest's toes.

      For example, how do you propose explaining WHY French Revolution happened without mentioning wealth concentration? It started as a bread riot, after all. Explaining the raise of Communism isn't really possible without examining the working conditions and overall economic effects of unregulated Capitalism. Then there's religion, leading to such non-controversional subjects like its overall role in human history, the rise of Christianity, Orthodox/Catholic split, Catholic/Protestant split, rise of Islam, etc.

      In other words, school can't teach WHY our world is as it is because people don't agree on what the answer is.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. It'll teach an excellent lesson by Rosco+P.+Coltrane · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Try your hardest and grind for many hours to improve things, advance civilization, bring about peace after war, build a nation. What a grand and exhilarating endeavour!

    Then, when it gets too hard, enter a cheat code. Congratulation, you've now learned how to be a successful politician.

    --
    "A door is what a dog is perpetually on the wrong side of" - Ogden Nash
  3. Civ 5's economic system is based on gold... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They aren't going to teach students much about real-world economies, which are based entirely on fiat currencies these days, with a game economic system based on gold - with a simplistic 'spend only what you tax' system, that doesn't represent the real world of debt-funded governments, who perpetually roll-over debt through GDP growth and inflation, instead of paying it down.

    The Civ game makers, should do a bit more to study the history of money and resources, going back to ancient times - it could add a very interesting and educational twist, to their gameplay dynamics.

    They could start with getting a proper understanding of money (something economists themselves barely have a grasp of - failing to accurately model money, debt and banks) - David Graeber's book Debt, would be a good start.

  4. Freeciv is better for suited for school by alantus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While Civilization might have better graphics/sounds, that doesn't add much to the "educational" value.

    Freeciv is multiplayer, and you can change the rules by changing an XML, which could make things quite interesting.

    And of course, it is open source, which could take the educational value to a whole different level.

  5. Our change is better than your change by jabberw0k · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Naturally languages change over time. Some of us want English to be a better language, with sensible and consistent usage, with precision and grace; and we are working toward that goal. If you wish to campaign for sloppy language, you are welcome to that as well, but it is illogical to campaign for your changes while saying we have no right to seek ours.