Case Study: CivCamp
Sid Meier's Civilization 4 (Civ4) is a game based around building an empire that spans 4,000 years, to reach modern day and beyond. Participants build within their choice of four ages, creating cities, caring for people's happiness within that city, creating and storing food, navigating and improving terrain for roads and farming, negotiating and trading with surrounding areas, budgeting funds, building wonders of the world, and battling as needed. Players learn about the time period's locations, important dates, and terminology, and how the model represents what may have occurred in real world history. The players begin on an equal status and build their power through experience, collaboration and success.
To determine how games such as Civ4 could be used productively, Squire writes that researchers created an after-school program for novices. Students, who were new to the game, began by playing in pairs with help from a facilitator. Later they would work on their own as single players, or work with other players in the context of the game. The games were designed to accommodate varying styles and abilities. The students worked 2-3 months, over 80 hours, to become experts in the game.
According to the intake survey, the students chosen for CivCamp (as the afterschool project was called) had not previously enjoyed traditional school. Yet they began to be very interested in learning more about the time and place in which they were engaged in Civ4. "Learning through video game-based simulations and virtual modeling destabilizes traditional categories and relations...this pedagogical approach de-centers the standard text (or teachers’ notes) from the center of the knowledge network, and places students’ questions, hypotheses, and fantasies at the center" (Squire). The students had control of their environment and were thus more involved in supporting that space. They were in a sandbox environment, able to explore and learn with few negative consequences, collaborate with others, express winning, increase their ability through knowledge and playing, and experience success and mastery. By the time camp ended, many were in the modifying stage of development, which is one step away from creating the games.
The result of the game was a new identity for the students. They were kids who could now do things. When the students left CivCamp, they said they still did not like school. However, they did like social studies. To supplement their game interest, they were checking out books from the library on Native American Aztecs or the Industrial Age, in order to learn more and do better in the game. "This game has changed my life," said one. The students would assume another identity as they recommended CivCamp to their peers: leader.
To determine how games such as Civ4 could be used productively, Squire writes that researchers created an after-school program for novices. Students, who were new to the game, began by playing in pairs with help from a facilitator. Later they would work on their own as single players, or work with other players in the context of the game. The games were designed to accommodate varying styles and abilities. The students worked 2-3 months, over 80 hours, to become experts in the game.
According to the intake survey, the students chosen for CivCamp (as the afterschool project was called) had not previously enjoyed traditional school. Yet they began to be very interested in learning more about the time and place in which they were engaged in Civ4. "Learning through video game-based simulations and virtual modeling destabilizes traditional categories and relations...this pedagogical approach de-centers the standard text (or teachers’ notes) from the center of the knowledge network, and places students’ questions, hypotheses, and fantasies at the center" (Squire). The students had control of their environment and were thus more involved in supporting that space. They were in a sandbox environment, able to explore and learn with few negative consequences, collaborate with others, express winning, increase their ability through knowledge and playing, and experience success and mastery. By the time camp ended, many were in the modifying stage of development, which is one step away from creating the games.
The result of the game was a new identity for the students. They were kids who could now do things. When the students left CivCamp, they said they still did not like school. However, they did like social studies. To supplement their game interest, they were checking out books from the library on Native American Aztecs or the Industrial Age, in order to learn more and do better in the game. "This game has changed my life," said one. The students would assume another identity as they recommended CivCamp to their peers: leader.