Gaming the Past: Using Video Games to Teach Secondary History

Gaming the Past is a handbook that provides practical information and examples for integrating critical thinking activities and assessments using historical video games into classes. It covers planning, designing, and implementing lessons and units, selecting games, and employing instructional strategies. It also includes sample unit and lesson plans, worksheets, and assessment questions.

Format: Hardback
Length: 196 pages
Publication date: 11 November 2022
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Gaming the Past is a comprehensive guide designed to assist pre-service teachers, current teachers, and teacher educators in effectively incorporating historical video games into their classrooms to foster critical thinking skills. The book focuses on providing practical information and specific examples for integrating critical thinking activities and assessments into video game-based lessons. It encompasses various chapters that cover the essential aspects of planning, designing, and implementing lessons and units centered around historical video games. These topics include:

Engaging in conversations with administrators, parents, and students to advocate for the educational value of teaching with historical video games.

Selecting games that align with curricular goals by considering the diverse genres of historical games.

Planning and implementing game-based history lessons that encompass a range of activities, from whole-class exercises to individual gameplay and group analysis.

Employing instructional strategies to facilitate students' learning of game mechanics and encourage higher-level analytical thinking.

Identifying and avoiding common pitfalls when incorporating games into the history classroom.

Developing activities and assessments that promote interpreting and creating established and new media.

In addition to the theoretical framework, Gaming the Past offers valuable resources such as sample unit and lesson plans, worksheets, and assessment questions. It also provides a comprehensive list of historical games currently available, including both commercial and freely accessible Internet games. By utilizing the insights and strategies presented in this book, educators can enhance their students' historical knowledge, critical thinking abilities, and engagement in learning.

Weight: 550g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781032223476
Edition number: 2 ed