Space Themed Games for Learning

Space themed games are a very popular genre. I find space themes intrinsically interesting, as do many other people. From the very earliest console games with simple graphics such as Space Invaders and even non-graphical “in the mind” space adventures such as Spacewar (Brand, 1972), to the latest sophisticated immersive multi-player games such as Eve Online and Entropia Universe, and through to the very latest environments such as Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Space Invaders from circa 1978 – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Invaders

Entropia Universe – Mindark – see http://www.entropiauniverse.com/

Space agencies such as NASA and the European Space Agency have recognised the potential of space themed games to act as a basis for awareness of their activities, and educational engagement with a variety of age groups and learning levels.

I am considering that my GBL course review will focus on space themed “games” which have set out with specific educational objectives. It will examine which areas they focus on, which are often broadly categorised as STEM education: Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

A blog entry by “Daniel Voyager” in 2011 lists a number of space-themed sites… most being educational in nature… in a cluster of regions in Second Life

References

Brand, S. (1972) “Spacewar – Fanatic Life and Symbolic Death Among the Computer Bums”, Rolling Stone Magazine, 7th December 1972. http://www.wheels.org/spacewar/stone/rolling_stone.html

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