Honestly, it never gets old! Every time I think that MasterKAF and I have explored all the possible ways that gaming and learning can be combined, we trip across some more examples.
MasterKAF was telling me all about a game that helped explore the evolution of a species from cellular level right through to sophisticated civilisation. “Spore” is according to Wikipedia, “a 2008 life simulation real-time strategy single-player sandbox God game developed by Maxis and designed by Will Wright, released for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Covering many genres including action, real-time strategy, and role-playing games, Spore allows a player to control the development of a species from its beginnings as a microscopic organism, through development as an intelligent and social creature, to interstellar exploration as a spacefaring culture. It has drawn wide attention for its massive scope, and its use of open-ended gameplay and procedural generation. Throughout each stage, players are able to use various creators to produce content for their games. These are then automatically uploaded to the online Sporepedia and are accessible by other players for download.”
It got us to talking about the evolution of all sorts of things and how the science fiction of the game compared to the science accepted understanding here on earth; it turns out there was quite a lot to think about. I did not believe that my son who often finds biology a dry-ish subject, could talk with such animation about single-celled organisms and how they could develop differently into bipedal or quadrupedal animals. Honestly, they were his words and not mine. So I enquired as to what had led on to this topic and he reminded me about the YouTube channel we found a while back called Kurzgesagt and that he often listened to their shows whilst working on his computer. If you have visited their channel before then a thoroughly recommend it.
It has meant that the prospect of purchasing a microscope and actually getting down to some actual biology just became a fun prospect, rather than the chore he thought it was going to be. I am so blessed that we can educate in the way that we need to so that MasterKAF gets the grounding he needs in a way that will leave a lasting impression. Every child should have this chance!