Designing video games for history classrooms

Hiriart, JFV ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3022-684X 2022, 'Designing video games for history classrooms' , in: The Past as a Digital Playground: Archaeology, Virtual Reality and Video Games , Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 56-65.

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Abstract

History is very much present in children's lives through a myriad of cultural products varying from TV shows, historical fiction books, films and video games. The latter undoubtedly has become one of the most popular engagements with the past for new generations of digital natives. Through the agency of the mouse and keyboard or a gamepad controller, school children can embody the identity of historical figures, walk through detailed reconstructions of ancient cities, control entire civilisations or play a decisive role in historical battles. All these engagements, as several scholars have noted, extend beyond pure entertainment; the cognitive and affective processes triggered by video games can be productively used in history classrooms. In this chapter, we will start by reviewing examples of digital games designed specifically for history classrooms, followed by the presentation of the novel experience of designing an experimental game to teach primary school children about the Anglo-Saxon age. This game was created in iterative cycles of design, development and testing with the participation of historians, archaeologists and history educators. We will give an overview of its design process focusing on the conceptual ideas and frameworks that guided its design.

Item Type:	Book Section
Editors:	Bertoldi, S and Mariotti, A
Schools:	Schools > School of Arts & Media > Arts, Media and Communication Research Centre
Journal or Publication Title:	The Past as a Digital Playground: Archaeology, Virtual Reality and Video Games
Publisher:	Archaeopress
ISBN:	9781803272665
Related URLs:	Publication
Depositing User:	Juan Hiriart
Date Deposited:	22 Aug 2022 14:31
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2022 14:45
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/64095

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