Teaching Economics with an Educational Game

What do a stranded alien race and microeconomics have in common? You just have to see this to believe it!!!

Econ 2001, UNC-Greensboro

Here are some random thoughts that I’d very quickly like to share.

  • This is a good example of an educational video game rather than a COTS game that has been adapted for/integrated into teaching and learning.
  • Learners will need to use their imaginations. That’s always a very good thing.
  • I can see curricular connections with math and science (time, space, measurement, money/budgeting), social studies and geography (historic relevance, how would the game be different when set in different time periods, travel), and language arts (critique, parts of a story, journaling and reflective exercises, and more).
  • I suspect we’ll be seeing more and more of this in the near future. Teachers and others with expertise in instructional design need to be heavily involved in such endeavors.
  • Why wasn’t my microeconomics class like this?! Why weren’t any of my classes like this?! I’m not a gamer AT ALL (ask my son or DC) but this looks interesting to me.
  • All things considered (likely resources available, instructional setting, purpose, etc.) it has nice graphics and a good user-interface.

    • Discussion

    1. What is your reaction to this instructional strategy?
    2. What other ways could this be integrated with the curriculum?

    Published by

    Clif

    Clif Mims is a Christian, husband, father, teacher, cancer warrior, and fan of the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Memphis Grizzlies.

    5 thoughts on “Teaching Economics with an Educational Game”

    2. Kristy,

      I actually learned about this game from an email that you sent out a long while back, so…

      Hat tip to Kristy!!!

      Thanks for sharing your experiences and ideas with us. Did you use one of the Sim games for this activity?

    3. CoreyR,

      I’m glad you are considering so many of the possible ways to integrate technology in your classroom. Here are a couple of suggested strategies to help you learn more about this (and most any other educational) topic.

    4. You can learn more about educational games by clicking on the Games tag in the bottom of the right-hand menu. This will pull up all the game related posts here on the blog.
    5. Another strategy would be to visit my bookmarks (Go to the Clif’s Resources menu in the right-hand side of this blog and then click on Clif’s Bookmarks) and go down to the list of Public Tags on the right-hand side (You’ll have to scroll down just a bit) and select the Games tag. This will provide you with additional resources about educational games.

      6. Holler if you need more assistance.

      All the best,
      Clif
      https://clifmims.com

    6. Wow! Too bad I already took Econ 201!
      The E201 “trailer,” and the entire course is showing me that teaching can be more than simple Direct Instruction.

      You could possibly integrate games into most learning objectives. All it would take is a little knowledge and a lot of imagination. If you can integrate interesting technology with a traditionally “boring” class such as Economics, you can integrate a game into anything!

    7. I saw this game the first semester that it was being used, and I loved it! As a former Marketing teacher charged with teaching an Economics unit each semester, I constantly searched for ways to make the concepts of supply and demand more interesting to my high school students. I actually incorporated some gaming into my classes the last couple of years that I taught by using an educational game called Virtual Business. Most of my students welcomed the chance to do something different during class time, and I found that the concepts we covered in class seemed to really sink in when the students had a chance to experience those same concepts in a simualted business setting.

      I’m definitely an advocate of educational gaming!

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