Description:

Some of my earliest memories of history come from playing games: whether scrambling to connect San Francisco to Omaha in ‘Ticket to Ride’, or training Cataphracts to beat up my brother’s Huskarls in ‘Age of Empires’, or constructing the Notre Dame in Sid Meier’s Civilization series. ‘Gamification’ — learning by playing — is an exceptionally effective way to inspire interest in a subject. This class will use classic board games and computer games to lay the foundations for a lifetime of learning history and geography. Students will also gain experience with public speaking, discuss the principles of game design, and attempt to create a historical game of their own. The class itself is organized as a year-long game, with points earned and prizes awarded rather than grades.