Today was the first day of our Rich Task unit where the students are going to play Civilization IV and use it to stimulate further learning. Kynan Robinson and I have been looking for a way to introduce games based learning into our classrooms and when I brought this up with my Level 4 team mate and colleague Peter Olm he suggested Civilization IV. Peter's knowledge and enthusiasm for the game was infectious and as a team it was quickly decided that this was going to be the bases of our unit. Civilization IV is a turn based game where the player/students will take charge of a beginning civilisation at the beginning date of 4000BC the aim is to build a civilisation that will 'stand the test of time'. The game requires deep level thinking skills and strategising as well as building a knowledge of historical events that enable the students to create a civilisation that will ultimately be successful. The students will also need to develop an understanding of government, economy, foreign relations, managing of resources, development of cities, scientific research and technological advancement, improvement of infrastructure and so on.
As part of this process, students will develop hypotheses about how to best meet the any of the six victory conditions as set out in the game with the ultimate goal of creating a successful civilisation to “stand the test of time”. In doing so, students will act as historians in researching and evaluating historical information about real-life examples of civilisations. Using the information that they have gathered, they will consider key factors, advances, prominent people, crucial decisions, problems and events the development, progress, successes and failures of historical civilisations. They will use this information to assist them in developing their hypotheses and strategies and when making important decisions and taking action in aiming meet the victory conditions of the game.
I want to draw their attention to the Focus questions and Key Concepts. Concerned with information overload. I really only wanted to discuss the first two but displayed the rest for tomorrows reflection.
They are:
What is a civilisation? What are the characteristics and traits of civilisations?
· What are the different eras and prominent periods in the development and existence of major civilisations? (Ancient, Classical, Medieval, Renaissance, Industrial and Modern)
· What discoveries have been crucial in the advancements of civilisations?
· What factors influence the progress of civilisations over time?
· What factors might make civilisations successful or unsuccessful?
· What are some of the benefits or negative side effects of civilisations?
· How do our understandings of civilisations influence the decisions we make and the way that we live our lives today?
· What does it mean to be a historian? (Using historical reasoning to interpret accounts of past events and make judgements about how to act in the present day)
·
What are some of the problems with accounts of history?
The Tutorial alone can be quite complicated and it takes nearly 45 mins to complete. Instead I wanted them to experience the awe and wonderment of the opening sequence of the game. Lights out and the cinematic display of the IWB, with the sound up did the trick. The students couldn't wait to start playing. I did start with the first 5 minutes of the Tutorial because the Second Life like tutor explained the basic moves and initial plays in a succinct manor. However, in hindsight I should have just modeled the beginning game myself.
As expected the students took to the game like ducks to water. Questions of 'how to move this' and 'how to do that' flew around the room. It was great that the students didn't just ask me questions but sort council from their peers. This became more apparent as they advanced further into the game. Of course we had the usual suspects who went straight into war and had their Civilisations wiped out because they hadn't developed enough resources. Others were more thoughtful and gradually built their Civilisations complete with mines, roads, farms and military defences.
We are only at the beginning of the unit and already I am starting to see the benefits with engagement and learning. At the end of the day we had an hour of refection. I wanted them to answer questions which they collectively devised.
What is Civilization 4 and how do you start a game?
What are your feelings about the game?
What mistakes did you make when playing the game?
How could you improve your game strategies?
Tips for someone new to the game.
I have several reluctant writers in my class who wrote for the most of the hour. One of these is an ESL student who wrote an entire page of tips and strategies. He normally struggles to write a paragraph let alone a page in the last hour of the day. Some of our high achievers wrote about meetings with other civilisations and strategies on how to maintain peace and harmony and reasons for doing so. Others discussed how they thought that developing more workers was a great strategy because it meant that they could build more infrastructure which lead to faster growth. Every student in the class wrote that they enjoyed the game.
Our foray into games based learning has been a clear winner in with my grade 5 class. I can't wait to continue and see where the students take it next.
