Scholar Work - Way Back Machine

In looking at old and newer software, there are a variety of options in the history field. Due to the recent elimination of Adobe Flash, I turned to the Internet Archive to find an example of an older educational software. I will be comparing the President Elect Game of 1988 to iCivics Win the White House.

In researching the game "President Elect: 1988 Edition," it is unclear what the original age group targeted by the game was, but based on the content covered and the premise of the game, the target market seems to be high school aged or older. The game has multiple versions that focused on the elections of the time period of when they were released and the content covered would be relevant to a United States History II course, a current event course, or a government and politics course. Students have the opportunity to play either a historical or ahistorical version of the game and use polling data from the actual elections to make decisions on how to run a presidential campaign, including where to go, how to raise money, etc. Students play the last 9 weeks of an election cycle. In "Win the White House" from iCivics, the target civics eduation at the elementary, middle, or high school level since students select their grade level at the beginning of the game. It can be used in conjunction with any sort of class that teaches civics, for example, a lesson on Election Day. "Win the White House" does not use real candidates but does use current issues facing the country. Students select a presidential candidate and create a platform and have to go from state to state doing media buys, campaigning, and fundraising money for their campaign and try to win the election. Both games run on a very similar premise, but "Win the White House" has significantly updated graphics and capabilities that elevate it above the basic graphics of "President Elect."

Both games are interactive tools and given that students do not need to play a historical version of either game, the goal isn't to teach students about what actually happens in historic presidential elections, but rather to immerse them in the political process and teach them how campaigns work. Both games include text on screen instructions to teach students how to play the game. "Win the White House" includes a PDF that teachers can download to help teach students how to play the game, as well as additional instructional tools and when teachers assign the game through the iCivics platform, they can include a pre- and post- assessment. The pre- and post- assessment questions can either be set by iCivics or the teacher can create their own questions. The games are not structured in a lesson format and give students total freedom to explore the political process. One of the major differences is that in "President Elect" students are only playing the last 9 weeks of the election, while "Win the White House" begins with students guiding their candidate through the primary process and the general election. Both games follow a chronological format of the election process. The games are formatted in a single player format, although "President Elect" can handle three different players on the software if each player is assuming different roles in the campaign but it is unclear if students would have to take turns and save their progress to have the three players play the game or if they can all play at the same time.

To assess students understanding of how political campaigns work, their progress is measured by how well they navigate the election. In "Win the White House," student success is measured by how well they perform in debates and campaigning and if it wins them more electoral college votes. In theory, a student could lose their election but still learn a lot about the political process, which is the goal of the game. A teacher can then check a students understanding of the political process in the post-assessment. In "President Elect," progress is measured by how well students perform in the debates, how well they allocate money, and if they are able to convince the "too close to call" states to flip to their candidate. Both games actually measure student progress very similarly. Both games require students to utilize higher order thinking skills, especially those on the levels of analyze and evaluate in Bloom's Taxonomy. There is a great deal of decision making that has to happen and neither game is easy to win. While the goal is to win the election, you can't just get a right answer, you have to analyze poll data, analyze election maps, evaluate which states are the most important to visit, and more. Because both games require so much higher order thinking skills, I think it's really important that students have a foundational understanding of how United States elections work before they play the games or they are less enjoyable. I think that high school students who are interested in politics would really enjoy playing "President Elect" and I could actually see it having success in an Advanced Placement setting. "Win the White House" is more aimed at the average student, who maybe isn't as interested in the historical aspects, especially because the information available in the historical version of the game is pretty intricate. "Win the White House" is certainly more accessible to students of all different backgrounds since it includes a PDF guide, multiple choice options throughout the game, and more student choice. The graphics are also more appealing in "Win the White House" since it is a newer game. Students who enjoy gaming and are more linguistic and visual will enjoy both games, but a student with strong math skills will especially like "President Elect." Learners who might struggle with both games are auditory learners since there really isn't an auditory aspect to either game and kinesthetic learners might also have difficulties, but the games could be paired with other lesson components that appeal more to these learners.