I’m putting the final touches on our 2008-2009 3rd Grade IHIP, Individualized Home Instruction Plan, and I’m thinking of including Spore.
The much anticipated video game will be fully released later this week, and it’s so cool that even I’m tempted to play.
Spore is a simulation game where you can create alien life and manipulate its evolution from simple being to social creature. As a player, you go from thinking about the science of evolution to watching social science in action as the creatures form politicized social structures.
Scientists are praising Spore, even as they caution that it’s not completely accurate. Even Will Wright, Spore’s designer admits, “It’s manure to seed future scientists.” See full article, Gaming Evolves, by Carl Zimmer in The New York Times Science Section, Setember 1, 2008.
Is this science, social studies, or neither? Perhaps we’ll just list it under “Technology.”
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More on Spore at http://tiny.cc/j0vRq and Sporepedia at http://www.spore.com/sporepedia#qry=all
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