One
game that I thought could relate to education was the Assasin's Creed franchise
on the Xbox 360 console. The franchise is a historical fiction third person
action-adventure open world video game that has had seven installments. The
reason I thought this would be an excellent game to relate to education, specifically within the realms of history, is because it actually puts the main
character into different parts of factual history with the characters of that
time. Different games covered aspects of the Third Crusade, the Italian
Renaissance the American Revolution, as well as the French Revolution.
Characters such as Leornado di Vinci, George Washington, Christopher Columbus and others make multiple appearances within the different games and are integral parts to
the main story.
Even professors are saying that Assasins Creed can
help with educating. “I believe that video
games do indeed excite students about history and encourage them to learn
more–for myself, I am certain that playing Dungeons & Dragons as a teenager
ultimately turned me into an academic and a historian as an adult,” said
Timothy O’Neil, professor of History at Albion College. “If I taught US history,
I would most definitely find some way to use AC III in my classes.”
O’Neil
cites another educationally-applicable aspect of the game: questioning. Beyond
simply just having players play in the past, the Assassin’s Creed franchise is
all about challenging the accepted story. These games weave a secondary
narrative throughout history that certainly asks players to question the
history books and what exactly is written in them and more importantly to open up different narratives.
This aspect of
presenting the past in a way that can be questioned, I believe, is very important
to a students education and provides the difference of just memorizing dates
and actually know exactly why history turned out the way it did. It provides a higher level of learning and teaches students to truly become critical thinkers. Furthermore, because its in the form of a
I believe this goes hand in hand with point that Gee was trying to make in that video games are universal. Because they are played by students globally, a platform has already been given to educators in which to work with instead of reinventing an entirely new one. Additionally video games can help in the shift of just regurgitating information to actually problem solving which can help because this form of learning is intertwined within different concepts of education. All in all Gee states that there needs to be a level of innovation that needs to happen for education and video games may be a critical tool in which to do so.
Hey Muneer! Your post was really enjoyable to read. I had heard about the Assassin's Creed series, and saw the most recent previews for the game, and it looked good (if only I could play video games). It's interesting how educators can easily recognize the relevance in this game and I think it's cool how they appreciate the idea of questioning written history and encourage this state of mind.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think of the AC games and what do you particularly like about them? How might you use this game in a classroom, if you were teaching history? Very interesting post!
Awesome post Mr. K.! I actually used Assassin's Creed to help tutor a high school student in Social Studies many years ago. He studying the renaissance period and I tried to connect AC with the feuds among prominent Italian families. However, this was just a way to connect and engage with the student. In retrospect, the game didn't help him learn the dates and historical significance of the Renaissance Period. It was also difficult for him to focus on his real studies when he started talking about AC. So I think there was some tangential benefit to playing video games but his main learning still came from the classroom and textbook (and tutor!)
ReplyDeleteHi Mr. K! You offer some wonderful insights here! I really enjoy playing Assassin's Creed (in part because it connects to history, my favorite subject), and while I would love to use it to engage students I'm not sure that it is educational enough to be useful for students. I appreciate your point that "video games can help in the shift of just regurgitating information to actually problem solving which can help because this form of learning is intertwined within different concepts of education". I agree that this could be a definite benefit to using video games, but as Mr. Tong mentioned above, I'm not sure that video games like Assassin's Creed are educational enough yet. I definitely think we are on the right track though. With a little tweaking we could have a wonderful tool to help students really engage in history classes. As you mentioned, "a platform has already been given to educators in which to work with instead of reinventing an entirely new one". This is very insightful and I think that with some collaboration between video game designers and educators, video games could truly become an incredibly useful tool for instruction, not just in content, but also in problem-solving, exploration, and lateral thinking. Thanks for sharing! I look forward to reading more of your posts!
ReplyDeleteMr. Khalid,
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard of Assasin's Creed but I really enjoyed reading about on your blog. By the way that you describe it, I think I would be very interested in playing the game. I always had an interested in history but never really got to that higher level of thinking with history. I love that students are a part of historical events or scenes and are able to have a somewhat real interaction or dialogue with historical figures. Finally, I love that Assassin's Creed intertwines "a secondary narrative throughout history that certainly asks players to question the history books and what exactly is written in them and more importantly to open up different narratives." Thanks for sharing. Some day, post MAC program probably, I will check it out.
Mr. K! My roommate just recently started playing Assassin's Creed and has been absolutely raving about how awesome the concept of it. I wish I had the time to play it since it sounds really interesting. I did not realize that the premise of the game involved real historical events which makes it a learning tool as well! If the game sparked students interest in a historical event or figure, it could lead them to want to learn more and take an interest in history in general. I also loved your point that "video games can help in the shift of just regurgitating information to actually problem solving." I think when people harp on video games they forget that many games actually lead to development of critical thinking skills which are vital for students! Thanks for your post!
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