Brainstorming for the Presentation

Wrapping Up the Presentation

An hour after class, students gave the presentation in a large cafeteria before the rest of their school (about 200 students). The students’ presentation went smoothly; students basically read from the slides, (see Appendix H). The other students were surprised that Norman, who is shy and does not like to talk in front of other students, actually read his slide. Tony read Dwayne’s slide for him, as Dwayne sat quietly in the back of the room refusing to stand in front of the group. The Civilization group compared favorably with the other groups, who made documentaries about local neighborhoods, recorded pop songs, or edited and shot other videos. Whereas most groups focused on production, the civilization campers also confronted academic content.

I stayed for the whole end-of-year ceremony. Watching the school celebrate, applauding students’ successes, sharing joy for Jenny and her young baby, mourning the loss of a student who was shot – it was moving to myself as well as other students and teachers. The students bought me a gift certificate to a local board games store. During the ceremony, I bid farewell to all of the students I had worked with over the past month and we made plans to try to connect over the summer or to play the multiplayer expansion to Civilization (Civ III: Play the World) next fall.
Chapter VI. YWCA After-School Context

Longfellow Middle School is a suburban, working-class middle school outside of Boston Massachusetts. The community is made up mostly of blue collar working families, many of whom are recent immigrants. Historically, the community has supported education more than many neighboring communities although economic hardships of the 1980s did affect the school district⁴⁶. In the past five years, the district has tried to “catch up” with wealthier suburbs, applying for state and federal funds to improve its facilities. This case occurred at The Longfellow school, a mathematics and science magnet school which resulted from one of these grants.

Only a few years old, Longfellow was very well kept and still looked new. Although the school was a technology magnet school, most teachers did not use computer technology in their day-to-day teaching, according to Earnie Fitzpatrick, the school science and technology coordinator and designated “pedagogical change agent. ” A former industrial arts teacher at the school, Earnie’s role now was to partner with other teachers to tackle projects such as building greenhouses in science classes, architectural models in mathematics classes or robots and solar-powered bicycles in after-school programs. The YWCA camp occurred in Earnie’s computer lab.

My relationship with Longfellow and the YWCA arose from a phone call from Laureen Scibinico, the executive director of the YWCA. She was looking for innovative, technology-enhanced educational programming for grades 5-8. The next week I met Laureen and two other program coordinators to discuss teaching an after-school unit with Civilization III. We decided that Civilization III would be both entertaining and academically challenging for these students. We met two more times before the unit began to discuss the YWCA’s goals, the students it serves, and curriculum ideas. Both of these meetings included Earnie Fitzpatrick. We decided to frame the unit as “computer enrichment camp,” which would mean that we would not expect outside reading or other homework. Students could come and go as they pleased, although we could expect regular attendance. They reminded me that, as participants in a computer camp, students would expect to have mostly “hands-on” time with computers. Everyone agreed that “hands-on” activities where students could be creative usually worked best for engaging students. I drafted a letter to the parents of children who attended Longfellow but were members of the YWCA which is how we recruited participants. Twelve students signed up for the camp.

It was another nerve-wracking first day today. The second researcher and I installed Civilization III on as many computers as we could before class, but several computers malfunctioned or never worked correctly at all, so setting up the computers spilled over into game play time. Students were patient and quiet, and most students could sit at their own computer. There were 12 students in all, with two high school aged teaching assistants from the YWCA and another student’s sister, who was not participating, but just “watching.” The YWCA participants had warned me that these were not the most academically gifted students, but they were angels compared to the Media students. They all listened to our instructions and quickly and quietly sat down as we invited them into the room.

Earnie introduced me and the research project, and spent several minutes laying down the ground rules for the lab. We were using Earnie’s private lab, apparently the only lab in the district where we could install our own software. There was no mistaking that the lab was Earnie’s domain, and it was a gorgeous lab indeed. When Marvin, one of the students, walked into for the first time, his mouth dropped wide open, he looked around and said, "Wow!" Interestingly, these were only Pentium IIs, but the room was clean, the chairs were quality, rolling office chairs, and each computer was set in its own spacious carrel, giving the room an elegant appearance that the students reacted to immediately.

I had each student write his or her name on a post-it note and then introduced the game. I described the purpose of my research, highlighting that Civilization III is a commercial game that most people play for fun (anticipating issues about the game’s enjoyability that we encountered at the Media School). I covered the main four ways to win the game: (1) military domination, (2) political victory, (3) cultural domination, and (4) space race. I avoided two of the less obvious ways to win the game; my objective was to give students a very clear sense of the game goals and why they were playing, hoping to avoid the problem we had at Media with kids not perceiving the point of the game.

I introduced the basic game play in terms of four phases: (1) building / managing armies, (2) building infrastructure, (3) building cities, and (4) managing foreign policy. The projector did not work for the game demonstration so this explanation was probably too abstract for students. Next, I wrote a few goals on the dry erase board in an attempt to help these students develop clear goals: (1) build two cities, (2) build roads and irrigate, (3) build a defense to defend from barbarians, and (4) meet another civilization. I left these goals on the board in case students felt lost. While students may not have entirely understood this introduction, they seemed to at least understand the point of the camp.

After this 15 minute presentation, students started playing. Most of the students with working computers were generally curious about the game and began of their own accord. Many computers crashed, however, and I spent much of the first hour trying to get the game working on a few computers so that everyone could participate. I explained the basics of the game – how to make units, what each unit did, how to change city production, and how to build new cities to students individually. Within fifteen minutes, students encountered problems with civil unrest in their cities. I stopped the class to describe the city resource window again. Some students asked about natural resources, so I introduced the concept of luxuries, explaining that students could use dyes, incense, silks, or gems to make their citizens happy. Computer failures and failures with the projector continued to prevent us from getting a smooth start.

Starting Game Play

During this first 20 minutes of play, despite my attempts at providing a clear introduction and the students’ general cooperativeness, most students were not as enthusiastic as I had hoped about playing. They played through the tutorial, clicking around the map with hesitancy. I had somehow expected them to bubble over with excitement about the chance to play. Whether it was the game’s packaging, my introduction, how the program was advertised, or just their own expectations about the program, I am not sure, but they definitely approached it more as an “educational program” than as a “top-selling computer game” that one might pay $50 for and play in her spare time. I tried to sell the idea of “ruling the world” to the students. Seven of the twelve students in the class were girls. To appeal across gender lines, I tried to highlight the creative appeal of the game, the idea that students could create a civilization that reflected their values (i.e. military vs. artistic vs. scientific vs religious). Despite their lack of enthusiasm, students worked on the game with very little complaining; no students were refusing to play, standing up in their chairs, or trying to leave the room as had happened in the Media case. After observing two groups learning the game, I started to think that both the Media students and this group’s hesitancy was because the game was so complicated. There is a lot of text on screen, the action is slow at first, and learning the game demands some thinking. For the next ninety minutes, I moved from student to student, hoping to establish more personal relationships with each of them, learn more about them as people, help them get engaged in the game play, and develop strategies for integrating lectures with game play.

Sandy was a seventh grade girl who considered herself an average or poor social studies student, and as the second researcher later described, “was not the most curious of students.” She seemed more interested in social relationships than learning but was rarely defiant or rebellious; rather, she came off as guarded and more interested in “blending in” with other students. Sandy frequently looked over to Vicky, Amy and Miranda while she played, indicating that perhaps she wanted to be a part of their social circle. After only a few minutes of playing, she was already at war with a neighboring civilization. She spent most of the day playing as Egyptians battling the Babylonians, which she seemed to enjoy. She built the Colossus which looks quite impressive on screen and eventually excited her with the game. After the first hour or so, she was making a peace treaty and thought that she had one city, but was not really sure.

Kevin was a sixth grade African-American boy who came across as thoughtful and conscientious. Kevin listened intently during the initial lecture, smiled and joked with peers, and was quick to help other students or answer discussion questions. He was very excited about playing the game and was eager to talk with the researchers. Kevin carefully read the dialog boxes, consulting with all of his advisors before making decisions. He took their advice very seriously. At one point, Kevin conquered a Russian city, St. Petersburg. His military advisor asked if he wanted to raze St. Petersburg. Kevin asked what “raze” meant; when I explained that it meant "burn it to the ground," Kevin looked relieved that he had made the other more peaceful choice. There was a lot to learn in the game for Kevin. For example, at one point, his financial advisor told him he was running low on money, and he decided to get more money by researching “Bronze working," a logical move that actually would be of little help. Further, he was not sure how many cities he had. Overall, Kevin was engaged in the game and interested in talking to us and participating in outside activities.

Jamal was also a quiet, conscientious sixth grade African-American boy. Because of the shortage of working computers, Jamal sat and watched Kevin as he played for the first 30 minutes of class and then got his own computer to play. Jamal and Kevin seemed to be friends, but each was still very interested in playing his own game, to the point where Jamal did not interrupt Kevin while he played. When Jamal did get his own computer, he became quickly engrossed in the game. Jamal sat with his eyes just inches from the monitor, focused intently on the action. This approach to play could be contrasted with the girls, who gladly played together. For the girls, talking about their game seemed to be a large part of the experience, whereas Jamal and Kevin, for example, wanted to play silently on their own.

Ricky was a seventh grade Latino boy who said that he did poorly in social studies and did not like school. He was quiet, even despondent most days and often refused to answer interviewers’ questions unless they were about video games. He played a lot of video games, and enjoyed talking about Diablo, Grand Theft Auto, and Starcraft. Ricky brought game manuals to class, and often spent his free time reading through game manuals or drawing pictures of game characters. He seemed antagonistic to authority and as if he could be a “troublesome” student, which Earnie later confirmed. He was cautiously enthusiastic about playing Civilization III. Although he had not played it before, he had heard of it, and was a fan of real-time strategy games such as Age of Empires. Perhaps not surprisingly, he was very confused early on, wondering why units would not move in real time like they would in a real-time strategy game. I noticed that he had lined up five warriors to form a wall around his city – a strategy common in real-time strategy games but of limited value in a turn-taking strategy game such as Civilization III. I explained that the warriors would be more valuable staying in cities both for protection and to help control civil disorder. Ricky nodded, but did not change his strategy, perhaps trusting his own experience with real-time strategy games more than my advice. He was very focused on his game, reading the dialog boxes and moving his units carefully. He gave short answers, and both researchers had difficulty engaging him in conversation as he wanted to be left alone to play his game.

Jordan was a gregarious sixth grade Caucasian student who loved games. His computer did not work right away, so he spent the first twenty minutes of class trying to debug the game or waiting for assistance. He kept asking, "How much time do I have left to play?" and was clearly disappointed about losing so much playing time. When Jordan finally did start playing, he was full of questions and comments. He wanted to know whether units could build on the water and if they could build boats, why his units were disappearing (he was convinced that his units were mysteriously disappearing from the game), and why he could not see his units “closer up.” By the end of the day, Jordan had one city and wanted to know, "How do you get food?" He was very curious, talking loudly about his game, asking questions, calling for researchers’ attention, and trying to capture my attention whenever he could. Like Jason from the Media school, Jordan probed me to learn about the game and freely shared his frustration about its turn-based format; Jordan also had played Age of Empires and wanted the units to respond to his orders in real time as they did there. He voluntarily filled out post-it notes commenting on his thoughts about the game.

The confused. Nadya was a shy, quiet sixth grade Haitian-American student (Haitian French-Creole was her first language). She quietly played her game, cooperating with researchers when offered the chance, but not actively seeking out their assistance. Nadya built a city but didn't know how to build a road, nor what irrigation meant. She was not especially interested in the game, frequently pausing between turns to sit and stare into space. It was not clear that she could read the instructions in the tutorial. Still, she managed to move her units around the map and could change her city’s production. Although Nadya was not particularly engaged in the game and learned more slowly than some, she still remained positive and cooperated with researchers.

Alice and Tara, who were sisters, were the most confused and the least engaged of the students. Tara (age 11) had difficulty reading the text and was unable to understand the choices she was making about technologies, the advice she received from advisors, and the basics of diplomacy. Both girls complained about the game, rolled their eyes, and put their heads down on their desks. Tara had several questions about basic game concepts, such as pottery and irrigation, both of which were terms she had never heard before. The second researcher helped Tara get started; yet, even with significant coaching, Tara could not do many basic game tasks, such determine what types of land could be irrigated.

Alice, Tara’s sister, had a better grasp of the game and was engaged for a little while. She had one city and was trying to build another. I noticed that she had several entertainers in her city. When I came by Alice to help her, I quickly realized that she had little, if any, understanding of the basic controls or concepts in the game. I tried to give her an overview of how the resources worked, but getting her up to speed was a daunting task. She kept saying how hungry she was, asking for the time, and looking out the window for her parents. Both Alice and Tara had difficulty reading the game text and were visibly disinterested in the activity.

Near the end of class, Nadya had abandoned her game, so Vicky took over Nadya's computer and started playing. Vicky had been waiting patiently for over an hour, and Nadya did not seem to care at all, so we did not stop them from trading. Unexpectedly, there were two high school-aged “teaching assistants” in the class who spent most of the time talking with one another. We tried to think of ways to get them involved in teaching, but they did not understand the game very well (nor the “content” either, so it seemed), so for today we just let them sit and watch students.

At the end of the (150 minute) session, I pulled the group together for a fifteen-minute discussion. They were understandably a little tired by this point; it was 5:00, meaning they had been in a full day of school plus two hours of intensive game play. I began by asking, “What kinds of things did you build?” They mentioned workers, settlers, warriors, temples, spearmen, and the Collossus. I asked what each structure did, and students called out answers, such as “build roads”, “build new cities,” or “make people happy.” Miranda, Marvin, Vicky, Jamal, and Kevin paid the closest attention during the discussion. Miranda and Marvin offered responses for nearly every question and seemed to have a firm grasp on the game. Ricky, Sandy, Amy, and Nadya could offer vague answers for some of the questions. Amy and Tara had no idea what we were talking about.

As students called out units and functions, I wrote their responses in two columns on the board. Recalling the confusion at the MEDIA school, I tried to make clear connections between the units and their function, highlighting specifically how each structure or unit helps them. As I led the discussion, I tried to be as specific as possible. For example, in describing temples, I said that building temples helps the practice and spread of religions, which makes unhappy people in your city happy. I also reiterated the functions of workers: building mines to increase production, irrigating land to increase food, and building roads to increase commerce. My hope was that constantly explaining concepts in terms of the four basic game variables would reinforce these basic concepts for students and make game play clearer faster than it was at the Media School.

The second researcher noted that, despite the successes of the first day, there was still a lot of confusion due to the game’s complexity. Game terms, such as Bronze Age, irrigation, and despotism, presented obstacles for many players. Indeed, there was so much reading in the game that it was almost worthwhile for these students as a reading lesson alone. The second researcher also commented that, as a reading teacher, she was impressed by how motivated these students were to read, pouring over every word, carefully weighing the meaning of sentences, particularly those that involved negotiation between their civilization and others in the game. Thus, although the class got off to a slow start, we were encouraged that students were willing to learn the game system and that there seemed to be many opportunities for students to learn world history concepts through game play.

The plan for today was to introduce the lesson, do a quick timeline exercise, and then administer the survey. The pretest and survey went well; unlike at the Media School, these students actually seemed to read the questions and filled in their survey. Students had mixed opinions about social studies. Marvin was clearly the most interested in the topic, describing social studies, geography, and history as all “fun.” Marvin responded similarly on the Likert items, scoring a 4.0 on the “attitude toward social studies” scale. Jamal, Miranda and Sandy also reported liking social studies but to a lesser degree. Only Ricky thought that social studies was boring. Clearly, we had much more “buy-in” with the program than we did with the Media School students. Students sat when asked, listened (for at least a few minutes) to what I said, and seemed genuinely curious in the game now. Even though the program was not for a grade, they were open to doing structured activities such as the survey. Seven of the twelve students attending today were girls.