Video Game Simulation
A central e-activity for Module 4, the module that included World War II, was a two-week combined in-class and outside-class group video gaming simulation using Making History.® The instructor had used this gaming simulation in previous classes, but this was the first time it was fully integrated into the course design.*
Using laptops over the wireless connection in the classroom, five groups of students played roles of five European powers (Italy , Germany , France , Great Britain and the Soviet Union ) in the years leading up to World War II. As simulated leaders, they played this turn-based game making diplomatic, economic, political and military decisions with the aim of containing German aggression while maintaining peace. Students were encouraged to research, discuss and analyze each decision that they made as a group and justify those decision based in their historical knowledge. The instructor was in “observer mode” and facilitated the decision-making process. Each team (nation) was scored using the game's relative strength and power rating system.
While the outcomes of this pedagogy will be discussed in the conclusion of this paper, some of the research questions that motivated this use of the Making History® video gaming simulation for the case study included:
• Did students have enough historical background to realistically simulate world leaders and their decisions leading up to WWII?
• Were gaming simulations effective in achieving instruction goals and objectives? What exactly did they learn and why?
• Was the “play” aspect of the game dominant and how did this effect teaching and learning?
• Did students who regularly played video games outside of class at a distinct advantage over students who did not?
• What were the differences for students as they played the game in multiplayer groups in class using their laptops versus single player at home or in dorms?
Endnotes:
*Richard Van Eyck, Digital Game-Based Learning: It is Not Just the Digital Natives That Are Restless, EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 41, no. 2 (March/April 2006): 16–30.