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This section of the V4T Project portal provides administrative information for the project contractual partners and for the European Commission and it is password protected.

Games

Translation:
de


This Section provides access to an Online database of:
• The best educational Videogames and mobile apps available on the market
• The most suitable Videogames and Apps that, even if not specifically designed for educational purpose, can be used as teaching or learning tools with students

Videogames and apps are categorized, analyzed and assessed in order to provide the teachers with all the necessary information and hints to make full use of the Videogames and Apps in teaching contexts.

Partners' Institution
Xano Channel
Author
Ignacio Pachés Giner

APPS/VIDEOGAMES

Product type
Leisure videogame with educational potential
Name of the videogame/app
Plague Inc.
Name of the producer
Miniclip S.A.
Year
2012
How to find it
Freemium
Main technical requirements
Ios, Android
Native Virtual Reality Support
No
Single/Multiplayer
Single
Type
Simulation
Target Audience
6-11 years, 12-17 years, 18+ years
Augmented Reality
PEGI Clasification
Pegi 7

Use in Educational contexts

Degree of required tutoring
Autonomous use after teacher introduction/explanation
Subjects involved
Natural Sciences, ICT, Chemistry, Geography, Languages
Special needs
Visual impairment, Learning difficulties, Physical disability
Educational Potential
The goal of the game is to shape the evolution of a bacteria or virus in orther to spread a disease and end the mankind. Though evil aim, the game makes player aware of the hazard of a eventual world disease and how it could be cure by developing remedies, medicines, vaccines, special procedures, etc.
In the field of Natural sciences and biology, this game prompts the player to fully understand (and combat) some key aspects of diseases, mutations, microbiology, infections, etc. The quality of the contents may be just a bit lower than what one can expect from a formal class, but it comes at a very funny price. With younger students, the knowledge got from the game exceeds that seen at class. It is more likely that the player recalls knowledge from this game one year after he has played it than from studying the equivalent from the book.
This is a funny game for kids, yet a serious tool for teachers.
The main drawback is only its goal: to develop a disease that kills every human. However the game doesn't portray any violence, rewarding for killing or uprise extinction
The game present several texts with icons during game, some of them unrelated to the action. The player needs to read and understand some sentences with specialized vocabulary and complex meaning, and react to them as soon as possible to keep the disease active. The game prompts learning of linguistic patterns and digital literacy

There is a collateral learning as the player has to set the initial breakout in a country of his choice. And poorer countries are likely to spend less money fighting the disease, thus the player is in advantage here. The main screen in the game has the world on it with dots pointing where the disease is strong. For young students, this is a big reinforcement to global geography
Learning Object / Suggested activities with students
This game would fit in mid to high secondary school within biology subjects as an important complement of the classes regarding the inmunity system, virus, bacteria, pathogenics and diseases.

Skills and competences

Skills and competences acquired
• Value the hazards of pathogenic living beings, and virus.
• To Know about procedures and remedies to combat diseases
• Be aware of the importance of mutations in the evolution of living beings
• Be aware of the importance of research
Soft skills
Critical thinking, Problem solving, Creativity, Resilience, Time management, Innovation

2 Comments


Partners' Institution
Xano Channel
Author of the comments
Alberto Dominguez Galdón
This game teaches about human cleaness around the world, differences between virus, bacterias, fungus, parsites, etc. , drug resistance. Also, the game is comparing against big illness like tuberculosis. It is a summary of several different concepts, but it looks like the opposite when you see it the first timen
Partners' Institution
Xano Channel
Author of the comments
José Ramón Migueles Hernandez
This game is good to teach concepts related to biology, infections and disease, but probably even better, it teaches a lot of geography and political maps. The player is constantly watching the world map and receiving precise information of each part of the world where the disease spreads. Moreover, the diseases spread different through different nations according to the development level and economic level.

Sometimes games teach most where we don't expect




This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

The V4T - Videogames 4 Teachers project © 2018