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Using Digital Games to Teach the Humanities

The research is in – educational games and humanities learning are a perfect match! 

(Image source: Pinterest

This week, we’re examining some of our favorite educational games we’ve created over the years that teach humanities topics like civics, English language arts, natural history, and more. Be sure to reach out if you or your organization would like to learn more about creating a custom learning game of your own – and without further ado, let’s get started!

English Language Arts (ELA)

Kicking off today’s list is Scholastic W.O.R.D. – a game-based reading and vocabulary program designed for K-5 classroom use! Grounded in the research of Dr. Elfrieda Hiebert, who discovered and cataloged the 2,500 high-utility word families that make up 90% of all texts, we collaborated with Scholastic to create a suite of seven web- and tablet-based games that teach the foundational core of English language literacy. [LEARN MORE]

Scholastic W.O.R.D. gameplay

Social Studies

Next up, That’s Your Right – a digital card game that teaches and tests players’ knowledge of the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution! Designed to seamlessly integrate with Annenberg Classroom’s comprehensive Constitution curriculum, we partnered with the organization to bring Hearthstone-inspired card game mechanics and a rich, painterly aesthetic to the social studies learning game. [LEARN MORE]

That's Your Right gameplay

Economics and Entrepreneurship

Designed as a digital supplement to Junior Achievement USA’s More than Money curriculum, RoboSellers tasks players with assuming the role of a savvy robo-entrepreneur who must traverse the galaxy, buy and sell robot parts on foreign planets, and grow their custom robot business. Through exploration of varied alien worlds in search of rare inventory to sell for profit, players are introduced to key economic and entrepreneurial ideas like evaluating costs and value, the role of money in everyday life, and the implications of spending and saving money on a business’s bottom line. [LEARN MORE]

RoboSellers gameplay

Natural History

Created for our friends at Chicago’s Field Museum, Mission to the Mesozoic places players in the shoes of a photographer who must travel to different time periods and analyze the various flora and fauna found there. As players traverse the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous periods, they’re encouraged to identify connections between the time periods and pinpoint relationships that connect plants, animals, and other environmental features – immersing themselves in hands-on natural history learning along the way. [LEARN MORE]

Mission to the Mesozoic gameplay

Civics

Rounding out today’s list is our suite for civics learning games created for our longtime partners at iCivics! Retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor founded iCivics in 2009 with one mission: to reimagine civic education through interactive and engaging learning game-based learning resources. From running a presidential campaign in Win the White House, to fighting fake news in NewsFeed Defenders, iCivics’ free learning games and resources have been embraced by millions of teachers and students across the country. [LEARN MORE]

iCivics - Cast Your Vote gameplay

Feeling inspired? Get in touch with our team for a free game development consultation!

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