HOW SIM CITY 3000 CAN BE USED AS A TEACHING TOOL.

By Robert E. Kibler

How to use Sim City to Teach

The game is very easy to use.

The game provides a tutorial for easy understanding in a turn by turn base system

Should a written curriculum be needed an order form is provided for the purchaser.

Or as a second option one may simply search the internet

The First Step: Knowing your Game

You must as a teacher have played and studied your game. That Means spending time playing the game.

Next you must see the different ways to assess the work that your students have done, (grade your students) There are three obvious ways to give a grade;

1st you set a time and see how much population they have by this time, 2nd see how many different types of businesses come to your city, and 3rd check the city approval rating at a certain time.

What Will Your Students Learn The Main Lesson your Students will learn

is how a city is run.

The 1st of these lessons is the needs of a city. The 2nd lesson is needs of the people in your

city. The 3rd lesson is managing the money of your

city. The 4th lesson is attracting businesses to come

to your city. The final is getting your city to grow.

The necessities of a city can be divided into six basic areas.

Water Electricity Roads/Pathes Commerce Industry Protection

The needs of the people in any city will vary from place to place.

Because of this no single city can be used as a good example.

But if you take a look at the regin you might get a better idea of what they need.

The 2nd lesson is needs of the people in your city.

The 1st of these lessons is the needs of a city.

The 3rd lesson is managing the money of your city.

The 4th lesson is attracting businesses to come to your city.

The taxes generated by the residents, commercial businesses, and industrial businesses help to fund your city’s maintenance and up-keep.

This being the very reason cities exist, to have a bigger better more convenient way of living.

You must make more than you are spending. This also applies to a normal living expense.

In order to attract businesses there must already be some businesses to make deals with.

There, after a while of growth, must be specific types of businesses like shipping ports and airports. This comes into play when you have really high industry or commercial businesses.

Another thing that attracts businesses is landmarks, they like to be next to something important.

The final is getting your city to grow.

The Ultimate goal of this game is to have your city be the biggest one on the game.

Now the game makes it virtually impossible to beat the computer, so if you compare your best score to someone else you might actually win.

So as a Capitalist educator you can use this as fuel for your students to do the best in the class.

Reference Page:

This is for those that wish to learn how a city is run.

Les Rowntree, Martin Lewis, Marie Price, and William Wyckoff, “Globalization and Diversity, Geography of a Changing World,” Pearson Prentice Hall, 2nd Edition(Ch. 1-4):1-113, 2005

Electronic Arts™, “Sim City 3000,” :1999-2000