For Franklin Rausch, History Is All Enjoyable and Games

Think historical past’s boring? Not at Lander University, due to a professor who brings historical past to life by video games designed to combine info with enjoyable whereas studying.

About 5 years in the past, Dr. Franklin Rausch, a Lander historical past professor, determined he needed to show past lecturing. He drew on his previous experiences of enjoying many alternative video games in his youth to develop video games for the classroom. As he labored on the intricacies of design, he turned to the University’s print store to print playing cards and boards to carry historical past to life.

“Students reacted positively and gave me good feedback on how to improve the games,” he stated.

Now a President’s Grant, made doable by a program initiated by Lander President Richard Cosentino, will allow Rausch to reinforce the gaming expertise for college kids and different college.

Expanding the Teaching of History

“This grant will be used to purchase equipment for the Experiencing History Lab so that we can make instructional videos for the games I’ve been developing, as well as to hire students to help with the development of those videos,” Rausch stated.

Each recreation developed within the Experiencing History Lab will usually be accompanied by a collection of movies: one to introduce the sport and clarify the foundations, certainly one of college students enjoying the sport, and one which instructors can play of their lecture rooms to help scholar studying.

“The files will also be made available so instructors can get copies of the games. All of this will be posted on Lander’s website,” he stated.

Laughter within the Classroom

The video games assist college students to remain engaged, Rausch stated.

“They laugh and tease each other over how the game goes, helping them to stay focused,” he stated. “If you throw in some competition and luck — like throwing dice or drawing cards — it helps people pay attention. It also helps them discover things for themselves and see how historical principles work out,” he stated.

For instance, in a standard lecture, Rausch might clarify that rising effectivity in meals manufacturing allowed specialization in order that human beings might develop new applied sciences. This, in flip, allowed even better meals manufacturing.

“Or I could have students play a game where they guide a group of early humans and see how the pots that they figured out how to make prevented rats from eating their grain or how the stone walls protected their livestock from wolves, allowing their village to grow,” he stated.

“Likewise, I can tell students that the Black Death created a lot of fear in Europe and destabilized society, or they can play as a family trying to survive the Black Death and have to figure out what to do when a loved one comes down with the illness.”

Games Have No Limit

Rausch has used his historical past video games to show introductory lessons and upper-level lessons for historical past majors. The video games have been used for European historical past programs, in addition to lessons on America’s “Wild West” and the skirmishes and battles of the American Revolution, together with the 2 Revolutionary War battles in Ninety Six.

“A game can be tailored to fit anywhere,” he stated.