Videogames and Education

Video games can be used to teach geography, history, math, and many other subjects

Benjamin Grantonic grantben000@hsestudents.org Recently, I have found myself addicted to a video game; that video game being “Europa Universalis IV” (EU4). While playing I noticed as I kept playing that I began to actually learn about economics and history. For context, Europa Universalis IV is a Grand Strategy game where the player takes control of a state from the years 1444 - 1821 A.D and attempts to guide that country through war, diplomacy, trade, colonialism and administration; as I continued to play, I found myself learning about the various reasons countries took the actions they did, whether economic, religious or political. According to Bret Devereaux, an assistant professor at the department of history at North Carolina State University, EU4 is an excellent simulation and tool for teaching about the international relations model of Realist Interstate Anarchy. e model of Realist Interstate Anarchy posites that in international relations the main players are states, a government with a monopoly on force, and that the main motivation for states is survival. It should be noted that, despite EU4 being good for teaching interstate anarchy, it struggles with confronting other topics that come with making a game about states in the early modern period. Dr. Devereaux’s discussion on these topics brings to light some interesting questions on the use of video games as educational tools. In a class by A. Martin Wainwright, a professor of history at the University of Akron, taught historical theory through

Map is to reflect the game map of EU4. the use of historical video games. e class Photo used with permission of Wikimedia Commons concluded that historical video games are an e ective tool for teaching complex