Peace Doves Game Name: Peace Doves Company: nobelprize.org; sponsored by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (largest financiers of research in Sweden) Stated Educational Uses: The game teaches children about the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970 and the countries who possess nuclear weapons. Target age for use: 15+ Cost: Free online game Platform: web based The purpose of Peace Doves is both educational and political. The game is educational in that students will learn more about the countries that possess nuclear weapons. Peace Doves gives the player key information about each country like how many nuclear weapons they have, rankings in comparison to other countries in number of weapons possessed, historical conflicts, and whether or not they are legally allowed to own nuclear weapons by the Non-Proliferation Treaty of 1970. The game is political in the sense that the dialogue between the doves makes the policy suggestion of halting and disarming the growth of nuclear weapons in the world. In regards to the NC Standard Course of Study, 9th graders are learning about world history and this game could be supplemented to fit into this curriculum. Ninth graders must understand and know the current state of world affairs and through this game; a student would know where each country stands in regards to nuclear weapons possession. I found the game was helpful in highlighting each country that owned a nuclear weapon and where that state was geographically located. Possible instructional value of the game would be to either test a student?s knowledge of geography and history in regards to nuclear weapons or an evaluation of what students learned during a lesson on world nuclear proliferation. This game is a test of base knowledge on current world affairs. This game allows for students to think about nuclear disarmament as an important political issue for world actors. Peace Doves, taking fifteen minutes to play is an easy and interesting game. Remembering which countries possess nuclear weapons and how many they have in comparison to one another could be hard for students to recall. This game highlights geography and further information for all the countries that possess the weapons. Peace Doves starts by calling into action eight doves to disarm countries that own nuclear weapons. A player is given at the bottom of the screen three boxes in which to pay attention to information. The first box is labeled Message on the Ring which dispatches information about the mystery nuclear armed country. A player then must make the judgment on which country the message is pertaining to. The second box is called Pick a Destination where a map of the world is displayed. When the cursor is moved over the countries of the world the countries that have nuclear weapons are highlighted. It is then up to the player to select the country that corresponds with the information given in the message. The last box labeled Activate a Peace Dove sends one out of the eight doves to the country chosen. The mission will be complete if the information is correct and failed if the information is incorrect. With a one player option, the game ends with a summary of the countries that were disarmed or still armed. I only failed to disarm France?s 500 nuclear weapons. At first I believed the game to be too simple for fifteen year olds but by playing I learned about the number of weapons, rankings, history, and geography of each nuclear armed country. The content of the game is definitely important given the current state of world affairs. Teachers could then introduce the potential emergence of Iran into this mix of nuclear weapon owning countries. I believe that this game would be a great way to supplement this discussion. The interactive map was a useful tool during the game. Content that might be surprising for students is that Turkey, Cuba, South Africa, Israel, and Pakistan all possess nuclear weapons and that Russia owns more weapons than the United States. Although teachers could just tell students this information, the facts presented by the game were much more engaging and visually stimulating. A student could potentially recall the information easier if they remember playing Peace Doves by visualizing the map or failing to disarm a certain country. Posted by rsbumgar ( Sep 30 2007, 10:42:07 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Jamestown Online Adventure Game Review Game Information: Jamestown Online Adventure is a free web-based game. The game takes place in the year 1606 and you are the captain of the Jamestown Colony. Your job is to set up the first permanent English colony in the New World. Jamestown Online Adventure is ideal for a U.S. History lesson, taught in fourth, or eighth grades. Bob Dunn is both the creator and flash programmer of Jamestown Online Adventure. Historyglobe.com brings you the game free of charge. Jamestown Online Adventure does require a Flash 7 or higher. Game Play: Jamestown Online Adventure makes you the captain of a new English colony. You are given a copy of the London Company?s instructions to help guide you. Your job is to maintain a successful colony based on four things: food, health, morale and wealth. Fellow colonists as well as Native Americans are there to help you. The format is question-based. You are asked a series of questions about where you want the ship to land, how to interact with the Native Americans, what type of town to build, who will work, what crops to plant, and what activities should gentlemen participate in. At the end of the game, you are given a report on the state of your colony based on how well you are producing food, how healthy your colonists are (ie. Are disease and starvation present), how much money you are making for the London Company, and how good of a leader you are to your colony. You even get to compare your colony to the actual Jamestown colony at the end. Only one person can play this game at a time. The game ends when you have answered all the questions. There are a total of six questions. In a recent game, I chose my colony to be set up in a marshy area. I built a village, instead of a wooden fort or castle. I had my men fishing and hunting, instead of searching for gold. All men worked. I planted tobacco, wheat, and corn. In the end, my score report stated that I had good food sources, poor health, good wealth, and a fair morale. My colonists were not too happy with my decision to trade with the Indians, and to make all men work. Game Structure and Teaching: Jamestown Online Adventure is an educational U.S. history game. This game would be ideal for a fourth or eighth grade social studies classroom. While it does not deal directly to North Carolina, it does describe the settlement of an English colony. The game is very short, perfect for an introductory lesson into the colonies. Specifically, the eighth grade NCSCoS refers to the roles and contributions of Native Americans on colonies. Jamestown Online Adventure directly refers to Native Americans in some questions. You also have the opportunity to ask for a Native American?s advice with what type of structures to build and what crops to plant. Indirectly, this game gives students the opportunity to see what it was like to live back then when there was little settlement. The game illustrates the notion that the luxuries we have today were not available. The colonists truly had to live off the land. Jamestown Online Adventure does incorporate some of the 21st learning skills. However, the critical thinking one must utilize in this game is far less than in other games I have reviewed. The player must answer questions about his colony. However, the possible answers are already given. You do not get to see the direct impact your answer has on the colony until the very end of the game. Thus, the player is not forced to react to a positive or negative decision. Critique: Jamestown Online Adventure is truly an educational game. It takes only five to ten minutes to complete. It would serve as a perfect introduction to the English colonies. I think the game would really engage students and get them to thinking about what life was like when the English were settling in the U.S. This game could only be used efficiently in a North Carolina or U.S. History course when students are studying Native Americans and the New World. Honestly, I was a little disappointed with this game. I thought there would be more action, and I would actually get to see the impact my decisions had on my colony. There is no room for creativity as you are already given a choice of answers to the questions. On the upside, Jamestown Online Adventure does an excellent job of imitating life in the early 1600s. The sound effects and graphics are well done. The game also illustrates that life in the early 1600s was extremely hard. A colonist had to work very hard just to stay alive. Posted by slcarte2 ( Sep 30 2007, 08:07:33 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [11]

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings Review The Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a ?real-time strategy computer game? developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game is a software-based game, but I played a free trial version available at www.microsoft.com/games/pc/age2gold.aspx. The game is rated T for teen, so the target age is about 13 years of age and up. In this game, the player controls a society and helps this society develop through four ages (Dark Ages, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and the Renaissance). The game begins in the Dark Ages. The player controls a village with one building and four villagers. The player assigns the villagers tasks such as cutting wood, gathering food, or mining for gold. When the community obtains a certain amount of food and houses, the player can create more villagers. These new citizens are then assigned tasks to contribute to the development of the village. Later, villagers can be trained as militia and barracks and advanced weapons can be developed. The village can be randomly attacked by outside forces, or the game player can choose to attack other communities. The game also has five campaigns to play, all of which reflect an event in history. These campaigns allow the player to start with a range of existing resources (food, gold, wood, stone) already in place, which is nice because building a nation from scratch is a tedious and time consuming process. The five campaigns are William Wallace (a tutorial campaign), Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Kahn, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa I. The purpose of this game is entertainment, but it can be used to teach individuals the factors that lead to the development of civilizations: resources, trade, alliances, agriculture, weapons, etc. Also, players learn the history surrounding the characters in the five campaigns - Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Kahn, etc. The game connects with several NC Standard Course of Study competency goals such as: evaluating the ways people make decisions about the allocation and use of economic resources; assessing the influence and contributions of individuals and cultural groups; examining the development and use of tools and technologies and assess their influence on the human ability to use, modify, or adapt to their environment; and identifying the main commodities of trade for the different regions. This game also achieves some of the 21st century learning aims, such as Emphasize Core Subjects (ancient civilizations and their beliefs) and the Teach and Learn 21st Century Content (economic literacy). The trial version only allowed me to play the William Wallace campaign or a randomly assigned non-campaign game. I played the William Wallace campaign to learn the basics of the game (it is the tutorial campaign). Game play took several hours. In essence, all I did was gather resources, construct buildings, train militia, and explore the surrounding landscape. I was attacked several times by English troops, but successfully defeated them. Eventually, I developed my community enough to advance from the Dark Age to the Feudal Age. I am not sure how the game ends. I assume it ends when the player successfully completes all the campaigns. This game can be used for middle and high school students. If I used this game as part of a lesson, I would have students play it at home (maybe a particular campaign) and then discuss game play in class. This game takes some time to play so I?m not sure if the time invested playing it during class would be a worthwhile investment. This game does have some positive aspects though. The game gets players to think about factors that contribute to the development of a society. Throughout the game, you are constantly making sure your characters have enough food, money, and resources in order to continue play. Also, students learn historical facts about the central campaign characters and the lives they led. Posted by tsrhue ( Sep 30 2007, 07:31:08 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

virtual village Virtual Village is a downloadable real-time simulation game for Windows. It was developed by a company called Last Day of Work. The game can be played by all age-levels. It was developed more for the primary grades, but middle school students can benefit from the game as well. The player has to care and nurture a tribe of people by teaching them survival skills. The player teaches and trains the villagers to research scientific advancements and how to repopulate a strong village. The object of the game is to develop a thriving village. You start with untrained villagers. The player is in control of developing the villagers into farmers, builders, researchers, and parents. The game includes a tutorial guide, which provides advice on how to make wise decisions. After you choose the skills and placement of each villager, they are left alone to independently perform their tasks. Each time you play you?ll witness the fruits of labor. You can give the villagers directions and check up on their progress in restructuring the village. The strategy comes from the decision in how many villagers you assign to tasks and how you choose to advance their skills. The player also has to decide on how to effectively spend money. You can spend money on food, technology, tools, etc. The player obtains tech points, which can be used to upgrade the populations building skills, and farming abilities. The player must manage which abilities should get upgraded first and how to develop those skills. Throughout the game, the player is faced with puzzles to solve, which help you to accumulate tech points. I found Virtual Village to be interesting because it provides the player with a balance of playing a fun game that involves strategy and critical thinking. The game includes many educational purposes. The player needs to make critical decisions based on the survival of other people. The player has to manage a diverse group of people and consider their strengths and weaknesses when allocating tasks. The dynamics of the game, allow the player to gain an emotional attachment to the villagers because the player is made to wonder how their villagers are doing. This game provides content that is related to the third grade social studies curriculum. One of the objectives is for students to investigate the roles of families, work places, and communities. Students are also required to observe how community?s change over a period of time, which is a skill involved in the game. Some drawbacks of the game include, the progression of how the game is played, In the beginning, the player is making numerous decisions to make sure that the villagers are doing their job to keep the village thriving. After you have reached a certain point in the game, it?s safe to leave the people alone for days at a time. In order, to see the progression of the village, you have to play numerous times, which could potentially be a drawback if being used in a classroom. Posted by crcantel ( Sep 30 2007, 07:01:35 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Scribble States SCRIBBLE STATES Scribble States is a game that revolves around the geography of the United States. There are three versions of the game. In one, the player must draw and then recognize one of the fifty states, in another draw and be able to name the capital of the state, and in the third draw and know the state nickname. Players can choose to answer 10, 20 or 30 questions per quiz. The cost of the game is free, and is available online at www.addictinggames.com/scribblestates.html GAME PLAY: The player has a ?pencil? that is controlled by the mouse. Using the pencil, the player must connect a series of dots that will recreate one of the fifty states. At the bottom of the page, a grade for the drawing is given; as the drawing progresses, the point value goes down according to how many mistakes and/or misdrawn lines are made. Once the drawing is completed, a multiple choice question appears asking the player to identify the state that was just drawn. Again using the pencil, the player must bubble in the answer. Points are deducted from the quiz part of the player?s score based on the amount of time it took the player to choose the correct answer from the given list. At the end of the game the player is given an overall grade average for all of the drawings and quiz answers. STRUCTURE AND TEACHING: Purpose: educational. Possible instructional uses: enrichment activity/independent study activity to help with memorization of US geography. The game also provides practice using a computer mouse to create the drawings, which promotes motor skill use and development. CRITIQUE The game can be played quickly if the player recognizes all of the states he/she has just drawn. That may depend on how adept the person is at using the mouse to follow the dot-to-to pattern to make the drawing clear enough to recognize the state. When I played I could not figure out what a perfect drawing would look like. I tried going very slow and drawing precisely, but the grade I received for those drawings was not more than a point or two different from the ones where I drew rather quickly and the state outline looked a bit messy. I also had difficulty figuring out how fast was fast enough to answer the question to get a score higher than the low 90s. The timer apparently started the second the question flashed on the screen, and the value declined quickly. Even on the states I recognized immediately I never got a score higher than a 94. Either I took too long to answer the question, or I took to long to bubble in the answer so the computer could read it. At the end of my game, my average drawing scores were 84 and the question score average was 93. Even though I did not miss any question, my overall grade was only a B. The game might best be used as a refresher for a geography unit for elementary school students, or as time filler for middle school students. Posted by emartin2 ( Sep 30 2007, 04:01:29 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]