{"title":"Commercial city building games as pedagogical tools: what have we learned?","authors":"Bradley Bereitschaft","doi":"10.1080/03098265.2021.2007524","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"ABSTRACT This paper presents a review of the literature on the use of commercially available city building games (CBGs), such as SimCity and Cities: Skylines, as learning tools in classroom instruction. Given the ubiquity and popularity of digital games, particularly among young people, instructors in a variety of fields and at various academic levels have begun to consider using these media to motivate and advance student learning. CBGs challenge students to design and build economically viable virtual cities; a task expected to promote systems and critical thinking, as well as the acquisition and use of knowledge regarding urban geography, politics, and planning. Overall, the findings thus far are primarily positive, and suggest that commercial CBGs can be used to address a variety of learning objectives. For geography in particular, CBGs have demonstrated potential in helping students understand and apply geographic concepts, as well as develop spatial reasoning and creativity. In the concluding sections I propose an agenda for future work examining the role and effectiveness of CBGs in pedagogy, and provide a set of recommendations for instructors looking to use CBGs in the classroom.","PeriodicalId":51487,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Geography in Higher Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2021-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"3","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Geography in Higher Education","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2021.2007524","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 3
Abstract
ABSTRACT This paper presents a review of the literature on the use of commercially available city building games (CBGs), such as SimCity and Cities: Skylines, as learning tools in classroom instruction. Given the ubiquity and popularity of digital games, particularly among young people, instructors in a variety of fields and at various academic levels have begun to consider using these media to motivate and advance student learning. CBGs challenge students to design and build economically viable virtual cities; a task expected to promote systems and critical thinking, as well as the acquisition and use of knowledge regarding urban geography, politics, and planning. Overall, the findings thus far are primarily positive, and suggest that commercial CBGs can be used to address a variety of learning objectives. For geography in particular, CBGs have demonstrated potential in helping students understand and apply geographic concepts, as well as develop spatial reasoning and creativity. In the concluding sections I propose an agenda for future work examining the role and effectiveness of CBGs in pedagogy, and provide a set of recommendations for instructors looking to use CBGs in the classroom.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Geography in Higher Education ( JGHE) was founded upon the conviction that the development of learning and teaching was vitally important to higher education. It is committed to promote, enhance and share geography learning and teaching in all institutions of higher education throughout the world, and provides a forum for geographers and others, regardless of their specialisms, to discuss common educational interests, to present the results of educational research, and to advocate new ideas.