Welcome back!
This week’s topic will finish up the Gaming and Energy Drinks series! Woo hoo! Today we are going to talk about BBC’s Interactive History. BBC Interactive provides multiple resources for teachers and students to use when learning and teaching history. These resources range from animations, games, videos, timelines, tours and galleries. It has almost everything we’ve discussed before! Today, however, we are focusing on the gaming section. BBC Interactive has 29 games to choose from, ranging in topics such as archeology, the World Wars, British history, and ancient history. Unlike the previous resources, these games are great for individual gaming either as a classroom activity or a fun homework experiment. Whether your students want to build a ship, take a crack at matching artifacts to the correct era, or quiz themselves on women’s rights in the nineteenth century, there are plenty of options to choose from that are fun and educational. Using games in the classroom is a great way to break the monotony of lectures and discussions in a way that is care-free and engaging. It also allows for students who need a more hands-on, or visual, example to work with in order to understand the material being taught more clearly.
So now that we’ve done a quick intro into BBC Interactive, how can these be incorporated into class? Since these games are one-on-one, hardcore planning is not needed! Unlike the other resources, these can be done on the students own time, or done as a quick mental break before or after a lesson. If the game is not enough for a class activity, and students begin to use this as a mental break from learning all together, incorporating an individual or class discussion can be a great way to keep students engaged and focused. This will help with focus and engagement, as students use what they’ve learned in class in order to complete the games correctly, while staying on task with classroom participation or homework. Talk about fun and effective!
I hope you enjoyed this quick little series on gaming in history class! If there are other platforms you would like to see showcased here, be sure to comment below or send a message via the contact page. See you next weekend!
Until next time!
THE CAFFEINATED HISTORIAN 