Replaying History:

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Replaying History Learning History through
playing Civilization III in Urban Classrooms
Kurt Squire Doctoral Candidate, Instructional
Systems Technology, Indiana University Games-to-Te
ach Research Manager, MIT Comparative Media
Studies
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Background Pirates!
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Modeling VSS Project

• Learning astronomy by building
• Solar systems
• Earth Moon / Sun
• From constructionism to modeling
• Asking questions
• Using model as tool
• Issues
• Technological ramp-up
• Interface issues
• Construction vs. Thinking

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Simulations PBL Activeink
We wanted something more like a game
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• Insert sim city slide

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Gaps in Research

• What are people learning through games?
• SimCity 2000 and Oregon Trail are ubiquitous
• No published research studies of learning through
  SimCity, Civilization, Rollercoaster Tycoon
• How does game play remediate players
  understandings?
• Can players learn academic content through game
  play?
• What if a unit was developed using a commercial
  game?
• What practices are students engaged in?
• How do students interpret game playing
  experiences?
• How do games fit in the curriculum?
• What design features support engagement? learning?

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Appeal of Games in Education

• Intrinsic motivation
• Fantasy, control, challenge, curiosity (Malone,
  1981)
• Collaboration, competition (Malone Lepper
  1985)
• Choice in fantasy (Cordova Lepper, 1996)
• Games induce emotional investment
• Players develop robust systems-level
  understandings (Squire, in press)
• Replay what if scenarios
• Examine multiple perspectives
• Failure states lead to learning (Schank, 1994)
• Emergence of training games
• Military (Prenksy, 2000), Virtual U.
• Potential for scalability and sustainability
  (Squire, 2002)

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Games in Social Studies Education

• Long tradition of social studies games research
• (e.g. Clegg, 1991 Wentworth Lewis, 1972)
• Experimental studies
• Typically fact acquisition models of learning
• Increased interest in learning activities (Ehman,
  1991)
• Few show increased learning
• Lots of no significant differences
• Weaker students perform worse in gaming
  environments
• Instructional context is critical
• Collaboration is important variable (Johnson
  Johnson, 1986)
• Set up and debrief as important as gaming
  itself

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Limitations of previous research

• Over-reliance on experimental research
• Isolating instructional strategies
• What are people doing during the game?
• Ignoring social interactions in gaming
  experiences
• Not grounded in any theory of learning
• Little theoretical, practical rationale (Gredler,
  1996)
• No links to contemporary learning sciences
• Contextualization, metacognition, reflection
• No ties to pedagogical content knowledge

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Challenges in Social Studies Education

• Students lacking background narratives (Beck
  McKeown, 1994)
• Confusing basic facts
• Poor sense of time scale
• Making connections among historical events
• Misconceptions about domains
• Geography as collection of facts
• History as the study of nations and governments
  (Loewen, 1995)
• History texts received truth
• Stereotypes
• Critiquing scripted stereotypes (good guys vs.
  bad guys)
• Simple causality vs. complex narratives
• Overcoming notions of historical inevitability

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Issues in Social Studies Ed (cont.)

• Students hate history (Loewen, 1995)
• Least favorite subject
• Ahistorical thinking (Wineburg, 2000)
• Position artifacts in contexts
• Adopt other perspectives
• Critique social discourse
• Identity in learning
• Lived vs. school knowledge (Wertsch, 2000)
• Reject dominant narratives (Loewen, 1995)

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Disempowered Students

• REALLY hate History (Loewen, 1995)
• Rejecting dominant ideologies, narratives
• Power, race, class (Freire, 1977, Giroux, 1987,
  McLaren, 1994)
• Identity transformation

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Social Studies as Cultural Practice

• Inquiry is a social, cultural, and political
  process
• Not memorizing facts (Stearns, Seixas, Wineburg,
  2000)
• Not mastering heritage (Wertsch, 2000)
• Interdiscplinary
• History as disciplinary practice (Wineburg,
  2000)
• Thinking historically
• Local Histories
• Examining primary documents
• Communities of negotiation
• World History
• Patterns
• Interdisciplinary
• Embracing scientific methods

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Issues in World History

• History as global (Ross, 2001)
• Not Eurocentric
• Not national
• History as synthetic
• Broad trends
• Disconnected facts vs. Patterns across time
• Interdisciplinary History
• Economics, anthropology, geography (Diamond,
  1999)
• Problems of wholes and parts
• history is an emergent process in which a future
  is more than the sum of what went before
• More than the sum of local histories

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Civilization III as Mediating Artifact

• Social Studies

• Civilization III

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Research Questions

• Social historical
• What activity systems emerge through playing
  Civilization III?
• What meanings emerge as taken as shared
• Are there gender differences in game play?
• What practices do students engage in?
• Psychological
• How do students interpret the meanings of their
  game play?
• How do students create a context for their game
  play?
• What learning occurs through game play?
• Instructional
• What are the implementation issues when teaching
  with Civilization III?
• What additional instructional supports are
  useful?
• What can we learn about the design of educational
  games?

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Contexts

• Media School
• Urban High School
• 18 Students
• 2 Teachers
• 9 XY
• 1 hour enrichment class
• 3 per week for 6 weeks
• Additional camp week (3 ½ hours per day for 5
  days)
• Total 35 hours

• YWCA
• Working class urban
• 10 students, Grades 6-7
• 1 teacher
• 2 ½ hour enrichment class
• 2 per week for 4 weeks
• Total 20 hours

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Data Sources

• Interviews
• Media School Teachers (3 X 1 hour)
• 16 Students (1X 45 minutes)
• Formal Informal interviews
• Performance tasks (maps, timelines, interpretive)
• Document Analysis
• Daily log sheets
• Notecards from exercises
• Saved game files
• Presentations
• Student inscriptions

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Curriculum

• Designed in collaboration with teachers
• Custom maps and scenario
• More accurate geography and civilizations
• Simplified game play
• Sped up game play
• Minor tweaks
• Supplementary readings activities
• More background on civilizations
• Civilizations vs. Barbarians
• Help sheets
• Voting on civilizations, mapping

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Civilization III

• 1. Set up the context.
• Play a civilization from 4000 BC to the present
  day.
• Think about which civilization you will be.
• What civilizations will stand the test of time?
• 2. Discussion Questions
• Who were the first civilizations? Where did they
  start?
• What factors contributed to their success?
• 3. Tie to homework
• Research which civilization you want to be and
  why

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During Game Play

• Demonstrate the game. Show the basic game play.
• Record actions.
• Use the game as a way for gathering data.
• Compare data with other students
• Use for reports, presentations
• Review games as a group
• Observe students play
• Just-in-time lectures
• Encourage discussion

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After Game Play

• Ask Questions to the simulation
• Which cities have the most food?
• Which geographic locations generate the most
  trade?
• Which governments are the most efficient?
• Make presentations and defend.
• - Realism
• - Compare contrast games
• - Critique

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What Happened?
Why am I doing this?
Replaying History
This game isnt bad
Purposeful Game Play
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Day 1
12
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Days 5-8 Replaying History

• Draw world map on white board
• Discuss historical starting points of
  civilizations
• Introduce real scenarios
• Hit on replaying history concept
• Student practices
• Mapping the world
• Fighting barbarians
• Managing city production, happiness
• Meeting and trading with other civilizations
• Key tension Guns and butter
• Confusion frustration
• Few self-sufficient players
• Unaware of year, government, or civ type
• Five students withdrew from unit
• Bored, confused, too hard

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Days 9-11 This game isnt bad.

• Shift in class morale and attitude
• Students start staying after school to play
• Differentiated goals
• Dan and Dwayne Rewrite history
• Rob Keep up with Dwayne
• Shirley, Larry Explore the globe
• Andrea Conquer and build
• Kevin, Larry Build a civilization
• Jason Master the game system
• Practices
• Studying geographical resources
• Trading technologies
• Building defense and waging war
• Key tensions
• Isolationism vs. Trade
• Controlled expansion over geography

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Days 12-17 Social Game Play

• Large number of students hooked
• Students regularly stay after class to play
• Most students ask factual questions
• What is monarchy?
• Why is colonization not occurring?
• Most students monitoring 1 or more games
• Beginning of recursive play
• Losing due to technological, military,
  financial decisions
• Trying different theories
• Analysis activities (Whats unrealistic about the
  game)
• Simulated system vs. Scripted events

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Days 12-17 Purposeful Play

• Game Practices
• Negotiation of peace
• Trading technologies and luxuries
• Reading Civilopedia
• Asking about game concepts
• Game Tensions
• Do I go to war for luxuries?
• Where do I expand (colonization)
• What happens when I contact other continents?
• Key taken as shared moments
• Discovering Bering Strait and Greenland
• Colonial imperialism

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Days 12-17 Purposeful Play

• Struggles over territory
• Reliving geographical conflicts
• Geography as a tool
• Global alliances
• Questions about game concepts
• Religion, governments
• Simulation and time 1492 passing by without
  colonization
• Students playing multiple games
• Most on 2nd and 3rd games
• In the 1800s and 1900s
• Amber avoids going to war
• Increased frustration (a good thing)
• Some students confused
• 3-4 still very confused
• Others have big questions

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Civilization Camp

• 5 Students
• 15 hours of play time
• Goal Present what you learned to peers
• Increased lectures
• Models vs. Simulations
• Historical assumptions of Civilization III
• Geographical determinism

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Civilization III Camp

• More relaxed, informal culture
• Jokes, awareness of games
• Community of practice emerged
• Increased questions
• Whats a frigate? Whats a marine?
• More collaborative play
• Longer turns
• More experimental play
• Im playing in order to study the importance of
  Geography
• Exploring the editor tools

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Civilization Camp Presentation

• Students brainstormed key learning points
• Compiled points on post-its
• Cities flourish in river valleys
• Isolationism hurts technological development
• Your geography, economy, and foreign policy are
  all interrelated
• Organized into themes
• Presented to class

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What has Civilization taught us about history?

• No matter how history play out in the real world,
  it plays by the same set of rules.
• How resources affected civilizations in the past.
• Why how colonization happened

Dujuan
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YWCA Camp (in brief)

• Students all focused within 1 day
• Group of girls played collaboratively
• Leaders in the class
• Contest over who could last the longest
• Interested in each others social networks
• Fashion of leaders very important
• James read the game off of history
• Brought books to class to cheat
• Tested theories of military power through the
  game
• Learned that war doesnt pay

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Post-interview findings

• Increased familiarity with facts timelines
• Deeper understandings of factors leading to
  colonization
• Understanding of connectedness across disciplines
• Students interpret game experiences
• Native Americans did not colonize for cultural
  reasons
• Why is New York City bigger than Boston?
• None mentioned geography
• 8/8 mentioned immigration
• 5 / 8 Centers of trade
• What role were you in the game
• No historical analog

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Activity Theory Analysis Contradictions

• Days 1-8
• Learning to play the game vs. learning social
  studies
• Civilization III as seductive vs. imposed object
• Days 9-17
• Succeeding in the game vs. reflective game play
• Teacher as game resource vs. Teacher
• Camp
• Civilization III as game vs. educational tool

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Activity Theory Analysis

• More tools, resources, collaboration
• Implications
• Set aside time for studying other games
• Have student create maps and resources related to
  game play
• Presentations on Civilizations
• Game play as a vehicle for inquiry
• Bragging about civilizations
• Writing histories of civilizations

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Implementation Findings

• Implementation findings
• Civilization III was feasible in educational
  settings
• 50 minute time periods were problematic
• Required several hours for students to learn to
  play the game
• More structured supports are necessary.
• Most students did not immediately develop goals
• Students had different motivations for playing
• Building, exploring, warring, testing theories,
  socializing
• Transgressive Play

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Findings

• Geographical game concepts were tools for
  discussing games
• Peninsulas, islands, Gaza Strip, Nova Scotia
• Teachers and students language reappeared in
  interviews
• Isolationism, strategic resources, horses in N.
  America, infrastructure,
• Some students developed systems understandings
• You cant separate geography from politics from
  history
• Failure, when attributed to students own choices
  was a powerful motivator and teaching tool for
  students
• Losing forced me to learn about geography
• The game made me realize I had to trade
  technologies
• Learning through game play is an interpretive
  process
• Students tested their game experiences against
  real world
• 8/8 responded that role of president was
  unrealistic
• Civilization III mediated players understandings
  of history
• No matter how it plays out, history plays by the
  same set of rules.

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Implications

• Simpler games for easier integration
• Implicit tension between game learning
• Redesigning learning activities to be in service
  of game play
• Sharing / communicating game exploits
• Expanded models of motivation in digital game
  play
• Sharing experiences, artifacts, communication,
  and socializing
• Social networks
• Transgressive play and fantasies
• Failure in game play can be a compelling means of
  fostering motivation and learning.
• The medium is the message.

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Next Steps

• Publishing scenarios with Scholastic
• Developing an educational version of the game
• Bundles of games and materials
• Creating teacher materials
• Creating a network of teachers using games
• Self-organizing model
• Roller Coaster Tycoon, Sim City
• Sharing lesson plans, case studies
• Teacher workshops through PBS
• More controlled research
• Experimental studies, comparisons

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Next Steps Games-to-Teach Project

• Microsoft / MIT Comparative Media Studies
  initiative
• Designing developing next generation games
• 15 Conceptual prototypes
• 4 in development
• Strategic partners CMU, PBS, game developers,
  textbook publishers
• Games in development
• Supercharged - Physics (PC)
• Environmental Detectives - Environmental Science
  (Pocket PC)
• Colonial Williamsburg Online History (Networked
  PC)
• Hot Zone Emergency First Responders (PC)

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Questions

• Kurt Squire
• ksquire_at_mit.edu
• Games-to-Teach Project
• http//cms.mit.edu/games/education/

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Electromagnetism Supercharged!
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Environmental Detectives
Computer simulation on handheld computer
triggered by real world location

• Combines physical world and virtual world
  contexts
• Embeds learners in authentic situations
• Engages users in a socially facilitated context

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Drilling Wells
Dig Wells
Collect Data
Wait for Readings
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Other Simulation Events

• Triggering of media events at specified locations
• library ?
• web documents
• machine shop ?
• video interview
• Racing virtual players
• Sharing and interpreting data with team members

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Game Extensions

• New Adaptations
• Customize location, toxin, etc.
• New Dimensions
• Played across entire city
• Played across months or weeks
• Altered Spatial Scale
• Entire building represents human body
• New Domains
• Historical Simulations
• Walking the freedom trail
• Epidemiological Studies
• Tracking disease through population
• New Tools
• Authoring your own AR Simulations

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Questions

• Kurt Squire
• ksquire_at_mit.edu
• Games-to-Teach Project
• http//cms.mit.edu/games/education/

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Approaches to Social Studies Education

• One best story (Seixas, 2000)
• Passively receive one true narrative
• Bears little resemblance to historical practice
• Produces apathy and resistance (McLaren, 1992)
• History frequently least favorite subject
  (Loewen, 1995)
• Often rejected when conflicts with lived
  experience (Wertsch, 2000)
• Purpose of social studies education
• What is it to think historically (Wineburg, 1999)
• College students vs. College faculty
• History vs. Heritage

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Disciplinary Thinking

• Participating in communities of inquiry (Dewey,
  1938 Green, 1994 Barnett, et al., 2000)
• Identifying and solving research problems
• Gathering or consulting primary data
• Constructing arguments
• Negotiating meaning
• Few examples of theory in practice
• Balancing content and process
• Student resistance to thinking historically
  (e.g. Barnett, 2000)
• Reifies power relationships, privileges certain
  modes of expression, can marginalize groups

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Critical Approaches to Social Studies

• All history is political
• History is used to reify power relationships
• Social studies is the liberation of the oppressed
  (Friere, 1979 Giroux, 1986 McLaren, 1991
  Spring, 1984 Zinn, 1992)
• Identity is critical to social studies learning
• Multiplicity of narratives, experiences

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Social Studies as Cultural Practice

• Inquiry is a social, political process
• The value of an approach to inquiry can be
  understood through the consequences of its use
  (Dewey, 1938)
• Narratives that do work
• Meet social and cultural aims
• Make indeterminate situations determinate
• Recognizes limitations of disciplinary boundaries
• Examines consequences of social studies education

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Approaches to Social Studies Education

• Mastering one true story (Seixas, 2000)
• Bears little resemblance to historical practice
• Produces apathy and resistance (McLaren, 1992)
• Often rejected when conflicts with lived
  experience (Wertsch, 2000)
• Disciplinary approaches to history
• Engaging in authentic historical practice (Barnet
  et al., 2000)
• Collaborative Communities of Inquiry
• Learning to think historically (Wineburg, 2000)
• Critical approaches to social studies
• Social studies is the liberation of the oppressed
  (Friere, 1979 Giroux, 1986 McLaren, 1991
  Spring, 1984 Zinn, 1992)
• All history is political
• Identity is critical to social studies learning