Sciences

My Sustainable House

This game teaches kids all about what it means to have a sustainable environment. They can choose three different game paths: one where they help sustain their environment, one where they create their own sustainable home, and one where they create a sustainable town! Along the way, they learn all about what materials are helpful and which ones are harmful to the environment. It shows them that we really do have an impact on our environment and can help keep it clean by choosing alternatives to many of the energy consuming and pollution emitting materials we may normally pick out.
When I played, I learned many new things that I did not even think about before playing. For instance, it is helpful to buy locally (not just to support people and businesses in your community, but also because it is less damaging to the environment (materials do not need transported which emits energy). It was fun picking out energy efficient and low impact materials to build my very own house! This would be fun for students who enjoy playing games like Roller Coaster Tycoon or Sims Build, because they get to create and design while also learning about their environment.

The Great Flu

As McGonigal mentioned in her book, one of the reasons why gamers feel like their games are so important is that they have specific goals and tasks. In the intro to The Great Flu, players are told that the fate of the world lies on them! No pressure! The game makes you feel important as you work to find a vaccine, send out research teams to infected areas, close schools that are being affected, and help those that are already sick. Players can choose a difficulty level (the severity level of the virus), and then the game begins. They are able to read news articles about their virus and choose different ways to combat the virus. This is a very strategy based game. It is intriguing once you start playing for a little while. Initially, I was unsure of what to do, but as soon as I got my first action messages, I started to get a hint of what I should do. It would be a great game for middle school students, I think. I think this would help girls become interested in medicine and health care as well.