There has been a growing debate among some educators about the value of using video games in educational settings.  A quick search on Google or your favorite search engine can lead you to lots of information about it.  Two well researched papers on the topic include Video Games and the Future of Learning and Learning by Design:  Good Video Games as Learning Machines.  Three websites dedicated to discussing the use of video games and other technology in the classroom are Marc Prensky’s website, The Education Arcade, and GLS.  All of the above resources relate to using video games to help teach, but they do not mention how the iPad can be used.  They do discuss some game ideas and even have some links to existing games, but none of them are related to the iPad.

Below I will briefly discuss and outline ten iPad game concepts with specific tie-ins to education.  Many of the ideas I discuss are not designed to be overtly educational.  Overtly educational games tend to not draw students into the game like traditional video games do where the student might say, “Just one more battle,” or “One more round”.  In order for these ideas to work effectively, there will have to be real video game developers teaming up with excellent educators to make these dreams come to life.

If any game developers are out there listening, feel free to contact me so I can elaborate on these ideas even more and possibly begin making these ideas come to fruition.  Of course, none of these ideas would need to be restricted to the iPad platform.  They could actually be developed for any available system.

iPad Game Concepts for Education

1.  The Sims:  History Version (a day in the life of…)

You have probably heard of The Sims.  It is a game where the player controls every aspect of a persons life:  job, relationships, etc.  Now, imagine that it takes place in Medieval Europe and you are a peasant trying to get by.  The player learns about the social structure and the struggle to survive.  Flash forward to the American Civil War and a family has two sons that go off to fight; one for the Union and one for the Confederacy.  How do you support both sides of the war?  The same sorts of scenarios could occur for various time periods.  The great thing of building it off of an existing game engine (The Sims) is that it makes it a lot easier to weave in the content into a very successful, without sacrificing the quality of the content or the game play.

2. The Cell

Instead of a simulation, The Cell would be an arcade style game.  There would a few different levels to focus on various aspects of the cell.  One part of the game would focus on creating ATP (energy) from glucose.  There are a few tasks the player has to do to get enough ATP out per glucose molecule.  As the level progresses, the glucose comes faster and faster.  If the player does not create enough ATP, the level ends.  The second part of the game would deal with splitting the cell into two daughter cells.  The object of this level would be to line up all of the organelles in the middle, break apart the nuclear membrane, and build the spindle fibers.  The early levels start with fewer organelles which allows for it to be easier.  All of this would be done using multitouch.  A third part of the game would deal with the formation of RNA from DNA.  This could be done in almost a Guitar Hero style where you have to match up the correct nucleotides in the proper order to create the proper RNA; too many errors makes the RNA construction fail.  A fourth part would focus on keeping the cell in equilibrium with its surroundings (make sure it doesn’t have too much or too little salt).  As the outside of the cell gets saltier, the cell must bring in more salt; as the outside gets less salter, salt must be passed out of the cell.  Using multitouch, this could be done by creating and destroying small circles (vacuoles) to contain the salt as it passes into or out of the cell.

3. Evolution

I like the idea behind the video game Spore, however, it does not do a good job of addressing the true mechanics of evolution.  My idea for the evolution game would have your organism fight for survival throughout the entire game.  As you progress in the game, you’ll meet certain milestones that would allow you the chance at evolving into a higher life-form.  For example, the single cell organism might stumble upon a new food source which increases the chance of evolving.  The evolving chance is played as a mini-game where you have to perform a certain task in order to evolve.  There could be chances later in the game to evolve through choices like isolating a smaller group from the main population and through minor differences in the environment, there could be a greater or lesser chance of evolving.

4. Genetics

The closest thing to what I envision for the genetics game was Aquazone II Deluxe with  Guppies or here.  It was a game from the 1990s that allowed the player to use selective breeding to create new and different strands of guppies.  It was a neat idea, though that was not the real focus of the game.  It was actually designed to be more like a virtual fish tank screensaver from my understanding.  However, no other commercial game has come close to this level of complexity for genetics.  The Pokemon and similar games gives the player a chance to “breed” two monsters to try and create a new monster that has a combination of the two parents’ abilities.  The genetics game I envision is a battle game like Pokemon, but focuses heavily on the genetics aspect.  The player will breed giant spiders that have various fighting capabilities based on their genes.  Through winning various tournaments the player gains money which allows for more equipment to do genetic engineering, however, the game does allow for traditional selective breeding practices as well to try and create the perfect spider warrior.  It would incorporate the use of Punnett squares and Mendelian genetics as the basis.  By employing the battle sequences and tournaments into the game play, students would be more inclined and interested in the genetics because of the benefit it would have on the objective of the game (to win the ultimate tournament).

5. Universe

The idea behind this game would be to start off with the Big Bang.  It will be the player’s job to start trying to gather the gases together in enough quantities for galaxies to begin forming.  There is a time limit on this and the player has to create a certain number to advance to the next round.  Then the player will have to take a galaxy and begin forming solar systems with enough planets in the “habitable zones” for life to possibly form.  This wouldn’t be possible without the right combination of elements in the solar system though.  Once solar systems are formed, the player will need to try and form an actual planet capable of sustaining Earth-like life.  This will entail all of the necessary parts to form an actual Earth, from water to the necessary geologic activity.  The game could be setup as an arcade style game or simulator type game.  It would depend on the developer.

6.  Total Immersion (simulated world for learning foreign languages)

The idea here would be making a game like World of Warcraft in a total immersion language learning platform.  Instead of stuff being in English, they must practice and learn a foreign language while doing various quests.  At first there will be very simple language requirements.  There will always be the option to have messages translated into English, but it will cost a certain amount of gold.  As the game progresses, translations become more expensive.  In the early parts of the game, you can pay to have a guide/translator to help you out for a relatively “cheap” fee.  The incentive to learn the foreign language (Spanish, French, German, etc.) would be to not have to pay these fees, as it lowers the amount of the player’s gold, so they cannot purchase better equipment, spells, etc.  And guess what?  Some parts of the world there is NO translation option.  So these areas are only available to players who have the necessary language skills.

7.  Natural Attraction (chemical bonding)

This is an arcade style game where players have to try to form various chemical bonds.  More advanced levels require different types and complexity of bonds.  In order to form the bonds, the player must collect and use the right amount of energy, have the correct elements in the right proportions, and do it quickly.  They have to watch out though, because stray ions will float by and could tear the compound apart before enough get built to go to the next level.  It could almost be like Asteroids, but with elements and compounds.

8.  The Birth of Nations (history)

This game would be like the Civilization brand of games, but holding more true to history.  Instead of random “historic” events, if the player plays as America, the player will be faced with the same historic events and choices as America did during its formation and up to the present.  The player will be free to make choices as they would like to “change history”, however, the best scores will come from recreating history as accurately as possible.  In order to achieve this, the students will need to read the simplified historic account of the events being recreated in the game and must be aware of the choices they will face.  If the students choose to change the course of history though, there is a chance of getting a higher than perfect score based on a number of statistics (approval rating, literacy, safety, health, economic prosperity, and innovation).  If the student completes a scenario with a better overall score than the historic event, they get a better than perfect score.  However, it will be a rare circumstance that the students can actually achieve this.  The main point of the game will be in recreating historic events.  Teachers would have the option of “changing history” scoring to be turned off.

9.  Widgetville (economics and business sim)

Welcome to the economics and business simulation game.  The players will need to enter the competitive market of widgets.  Their job is to create better widgets than the competition.  It will be chock full of business statistics (ROI, EPS, profits, etc.).  There will be a high level of accountability to shareholders (if the business is incorporated), accountability to customers (customer satisfaction based on listening to what they want in their widgets, etc.), and the competition (your widget is either better or not than the competition).  The players will actually build virtual widgets and have various components available based on the amount of R&D they have.  This could be a very useful game for teaching math concepts like percentages, ratios, and interpreting graphs.  There could even be mini games as part of the actual game for creating budgets, annual reports, etc.  Math, economics, and entrepreneurship can all be taught at the same time in a competitive environment.  An entire class could compete against others in the class, school, state, or world.  It would just depend on how the competitions would be set up.  Any of these would be viable options.

10.  Robot Wars (computer programming)

Robot Wars is kind of based off of the idea behind the TV show by the same name and other video games based on the idea.  However, the games out there are not based around teaching computer programming, but instead built around winning battles and buying upgrades.  This game will have that too, but it will require the players to write “code” in order to make the various weapons work.  The robots are completely autonomous in the battle arena.  They will need to seek out and destroy the other robots in the arena.  The player will have to create a battle plan built around this and program the robot to use the equipment successfully.  There will be built-in code for each upgrade that gets purchased, but the code must be altered in order to work the most effectively.  The actual code could be “written” graphically instead of manually typing in code to facilitate younger players, but there will always be the option of writing real code, which will unleash the full power of the robots.  Throughout the game the players will have to go to training schools before being able to purchase certain upgrades, that way they know how to program and incorporate it effectively into their customized robot warrior.

Final Thoughts

Some of my ideas above are a little more thought out in my mind and could more easily be made into educational games on the iPad or other systems.  My personal favorite ideas are Genetics, Total Immersion, Widgetville, and Robot Wars.  That’s just because of my personality and personal interests in types of games.  The point of this article was just to showcase various game concepts for the iPad that could be used in an educational setting.  In order for them to be truly effective though, there will need to be a lot of emphasis on the addictive game play with the content learning being almost unnoticeable.  This is where traditional education games have failed.  This is why the next generation of video games for learning must be made in conjunction with hardcore game designing companies like EA, 2K Games, and Bethesda.  There will have to be some sort of partnership created between gaming companies and educational institutions.

Our students play video games several hours a week.  They might as well be learning educational content along the way.

If you are interested in reading about 15 iPad App Concepts for Education, go here.

Related posts:

1. Three Concepts of iPad Apps for Schools
2. Video Games for Learning
3. 15 iPad App Concepts for Education
4. Educational iPad Apps Available at Launch
5. More Educational iPad Apps Available at Launch
6. Confirmed: iPad Available for Pre Order March 12
7. iPad App Development…for Education
8. Six Ways the iPad will Transform Education
9. Software for Making Video Games in the Classroom
10. iPad as an Education Tool