Age of Empires II - The Age of Kings Enhancing the Social Studies Curriculum through Play Wendy Newmark National University

Table of Contents

Table of Contents.... 2 Game Overview.... 3 What is Age of Empire The Age of Kings?... 3 Age of Empires II in the Classroom... 3 Grade Level Standards and Content Area.. 3 Goals and Objectives:.... 4 Age of Empires II and the Social Studies Curriculum.. 5 Using Age of Empires II in the Classroom... 5 Lessons Overview.... 5 Getting Started... 5 Teacher and Student Preparation... 6 William Wallace Tutorial... 6 Lesson 1 Hunter Gatherer Societies vs. Farming... 7 Objectives.... 7 State Standards addressed in this lesson... 7 Set up.... 8 The Activity.... 8 Follow up / Debriefing... 12 Extension.... 12 Lesson 2 - The Affects of Geography and Climate on the Development of Civilizations 13 State Standards addressed in this lesson:... 13 Set up.... 14 The Activity.... 14 Follow up / Debriefing... 15 Extension.... 16 Science Connection.... 16 Blackline Masters.... 18 Teacher Resources... 19 References.... 20

Game Overview

What is Age of Empire The Age of Kings?
Age of Empire II The Age of Kings is a computer based, real time strategy game created by Microsoft. Age of Empires II spans one thousand years from the fall of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages. This game allows the student to experience what life might have been like for a member of an ancient community, hundreds of years ago. Students choose to be one of 13 ancient civilizations and are instrumental in helping that community grow, from a simple society, to a complex civilization. Players must manage food, gold, wood and other resources. They must research technologies, provide for the security of their village and eventually evolve into a thriving civilization which may boast farms, religion, military armaments and facilities for higher learning.
Age of Empires II in the Classroom
As an educational tool Age of Empires II The Age of Kings, allows students to be actively involved in learning about life in the Middle Ages. As they progress through the game they will: manage resources compare and contrast the benefits of hunting vs. farming investigate the affects of terrain on a developing community
Grade Level Standards and Content Area
Age of Empires II The Age of Kings can be used to enhance the Social Studies Curriculum in Grades 6. The focus of this curriculum is Ancient Civilizations. Specific state standards that will be addressed in this guide are Standard 6.1 Students describe what is known through archaeological studies of the early physical and cultural development of humankind from the Paleolithic era to the agricultural revolution.
4 Strand 1 Describe the hunter gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire, Strand 2 Identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments.
Standard 6.2 Students analyze the geographic, political, economic, religious and social structures of the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Kush. Strand 2 Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power.

Goals and Objectives:

provide an entertaining and educational supplement to the Social Studies lesson provide an opportunity for students to experience life as it may have been hundreds of years ago encourage students to learn through doing provide lessons that are student driven and student-centered provide activities that are accessible by all levels of students in the classroom provide opportunities for students to make connections between game play and classroom learning provided opportunities to meet California state standards in Social Studies and History.

Age of Empires II and the Social Studies Curriculum
While Age of Empires II will not teach history on its own, the creators of this game have carefully researched the different attributes and technologies of each of the thirteen civilizations. As they play, students will be able to access only those technologies available to their civilization and only for the era they are currently playing in. As they progress through the game, more civilization specific technologies will be made available. Little has changed in the way Social Studies is taught. Information is primarily obtained through lecture and the reading of text. Within the past years, videos have been added to the curriculum. Age of Empires II enhances the Social Studies curriculum by giving students hands on experience with medieval life. They will not only be reading about these civilizations but, they will be personally involved in the survival and advancement of their community. Students will be able to see how the availability of resources, the natural geography and the development of technologies, affects the progress of their people. Playing Age of Empires II permits students to be actively involved in the learning process.
Using Age of Empires II in the Classroom
Age of Empires II can be used in a variety of different ways. This game is appropriate for whole class instruction, small groups, with individuals and as a tool for independent exploration. In this guide we will be focusing on whole group instruction and individual game play.

Lessons Overview

Getting Started
This guide offers three different learning opportunities for students. We will begin with how to play the game. Both students and teacher will play the William Wallace tutorial. The teacher will model on her computer the various skills being taught and the students will play along on their own computers. Once students have mastered the basics of this game, lessons 1 and then 2 should be played. Both of these lessons deal with the importance of food acquisition and the effects of a reliable food source on the development of advanced civilizations. For these lessons, the teacher will act as a facilitator, moving through the classroom offering assistance when needed but will not be playing the game herself. To successfully teach the lessons in this guide you will need: Hardware and software requirements:
6 a computer projection system (for teaching the tutorial) a computer for each student in the classroom a computer for the teacher Age of Empires II The Age of Kings installed on each computer
Basic computer skills requirements: Starting an application Using a mouse Using menus Clicking and dragging Saving and loading files to a floppy or hard disk
Teacher and Student Preparation
1. Install Age of Empires II on your computers 2. Pass out the attributes and technologies reference card to each student during game play to use as a reference. 3. Make sure all instructions for any lesson taught are clearly understood before embarking on the game. You may want to type them up for students or write them on the board for easy reference. 4. Be sure all students have checked off all the appropriate game settings before allowing them to start. This ensures that all students proceed at the same gaming level and no one student has an advantage over everyone else. 5. Play the William Wallace tutorial before embarking on Lesson 1

William Wallace Tutorial

The teachers computer should be hooked up to a computer presentation device. Have students load the William Wallace Tutorial. The tutorial should also be loaded onto the teachers computer. Together the teacher and the students work their way through each step of the tutorial.
Begin at Marching and Fighting and complete each section ending at The Battle of Falkirk. This will ensure that the students will know how to manipulate their villagers and gather resources throughout their game play.
Lesson 1 Hunter Gatherer Societies vs. Farming

Objectives

Students will compare and contrast a hunter-gatherer society with an agricultural society. Students will experience how the implementation of agriculture aids in the development of communities.
State Standards addressed in this lesson:
This activity addresses the standards by comparing the ability of a huntergatherer society to progress with that of an agrarian society. As students advance into higher levels or ages, they will see how more advanced technologies allow their community to prosper and grow. This prosperity then allows them to progress to new levels at a much faster rate. Standard 6.1 Strand 1 Describe the hunter gatherer societies, including the development of tools and the use of fire.
Standard 6.2 Strand 2 Trace the development of agricultural techniques that permitted the production of economic surplus and the emergence of cities as centers of culture and power.

Set up

Students will need to have studied ancient hunter-gatherer societies prior to beginning this lesson. The fundamental principals of agriculture and its affect on the nomadic ancient people should be taught with the text and any applicable supplemental materials.

The Activity

Description of the lesson: In this lesson, students will be broken into two groups; the hunter-gatherers and the agrarians. The hunter-gatherer group of students will only be allowed to forage for food, fish, hunt for and kill sheep and wild animals. The agrarian group will be allowed to participate in all the above activities and will be allowed to create farms. The students will see that as time passes, the agrarian society has a huge advantage over the hunters in that they can continue to easily procure food while the hunter-gatherers need to travel further and further from their town center and eventually will deplete their food resources.
1. Divide students into two groups; hunter-gatherers and farmers. Each student will play his or her own game on their own computer. The teacher will act as a facilitator, moving through the room and offering help as needed. 2. All students will select the same civilization based on the current group being studied in class. This will both reinforce what is being learned during their Social Studies time and ensure that all groups have equal technologies. 3. Students will all choose single player on the game set-up screen.

They will need to click on the random map and choose the following levels for each given category:
Difficulty: easy Other Players: 1 Map Type: Continental Map Size: Small Resources: Standard Population: 100 Reveal Map: All visible Starting age: Standard Victory: Standard
5. Students will begin the game. They start with 5 villagers. Students must build homes and store food in order to support a larger population of villagers. To meet this challenge, players must stockpile wood and food. Hunter-gatherers Students designated hunter-gatherers will need to divide their initial villagers into two groups; those that gather food and those that gather wood. They may only send their hunters out to fish, pick berries, gather sheep and hunt wild animals. The wood gatherers may be assigned to build houses when sufficient wood supplies are stockpiled. A mill may also be built to process the berries only. As the game progress, hunting students should be prompted to record the answers to the following questions and be prepared to discuss them in class. As the population grows, so grows the demand for food and wood.
How does this affect the distribution of labor in the village? How does this affect the ability of the village to build other types of buildings?
11 Can you achieve and support a population of 100 villagers with hunting and gathering as your only source of food? Does this affect the ability of the village to progress to more advanced ages? How do new technologies affect the ability of the hunters to obtain more food? What affect does this type of food gathering have on the environment?
Farmers Students designated farmers will need to divide their initial villagers into two groups: those that gather food and those that gather wood. These villagers may send their hunters out to fish, pick berries, gather sheep, and hunt wild animals. A mill should be build and farms should begin to be created as wood supplies allow. As the game progresses, farming students should record the answers to these questions and be prepared to discuss them in class. As their population grows, so does the demand for food and wood. Does the creation of farms make meeting this demand easier? How does it affect the distribution of labor in the village? Can you support a larger population? Does this type of food source affect the ability of the village to grow and progress to more advanced ages? Do new technologies affect your ability to farm more efficiently? How? How does this type of food gathering affect the environment?
6. Do not save this game.

Follow up / Debriefing

Copy the input chart found in the Blackline Masters page, one for each student. You might consider making a large one or an overhead to record class responses during the discussion. Pull the class together and using their recorded information, answer the following questions:

Which society was better able to meet the demands of their growing population?
What were some of the advantages to hunting? What were some of the disadvantages? What were some of the advantages to farming? What were some of the disadvantages? Which society was best able to support a rapidly growing population? Which society was able to advance to a new age more quickly? Which society had the biggest impact on the environment? How was the environment specifically affected by each manner of food collection?
How was the distribution of labor in the village affected by the manner in which food was gathered?
Each student should record the class responses on their own, individual input chart.

Extension

13 Using their Social Studies books and other resources, have students research the Greeks or the Egyptians. Did agriculture play a roll in their ability to develop complex civilizations? Did it play a roll in their ability to eventually rule over other less advanced cultures? Students should write a paper comparing and contrasting one of these cultures with a lesser developed culture focusing on the roll agriculture played in their ability to develop and conquer. Have students investigate other civilizations throughout the year. Have them analyze the roll agriculture may have played in these cultures abilities to grow. In more nomadic cultures, did the lack of agriculture adversely affect their ability to develop complex civilizations? Research how improvements in agricultural technologies affected the cultures place in the hierarchy of the area. Does more, readily available food mean more power?
Lesson 2 - The Affects of Geography and Climate on the Development of Civilizations
Objectives Students will see how geography affects the availability of food resources and the development of their civilization. Students will connect this lesson with the previous in that food availability affects the ability of a group of people to grow and advance.
This activity addresses the standards by showing students the affect geography has on the ability of a group of people to gather the resources needed to develop advanced civilizations. Students will see how advancements in technology allow humans to better adapt to their environment. Standard 6.1 Strand 2 Identify the locations of human communities that populated the major regions of the world and describe how humans adapted to a variety of environments.
Students will need to have read the Social Studies Units on hunter-gatherers and the beginnings of agrarian societies. The civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt and Kush should be taught prior to this activity as it gives the students an understanding of life in a desert community and the rich achievements of these cultures. Students need an understanding of mans ability to adapt to geographic and climatic forces and learn of some of the ways humans have modified their environment in order to survive and flourish.

Description of the lesson: In this lesson, students will be broken into two groups. Each group will be allowed to gather resources in any way allowed by the game. The deciding factor will be geographic location. One group of students will be playing the game in the Black Forest; the other will be playing in Arabia. Students will progress through the ages as rapidly as they can, with the resources available to their specific geographic location. Students will find that though they may use all technologies available to gather and grow food, the scarcity of other natural resources, in this case wood and bodies of water, will have a detrimental affect on the Arabia group.
1. Divide students into two groups; Black Forest and Arabia. Each student will play his or her own game on their own computer. Teacher will act as a facilitator, moving through the room and offering help as needed. 2. All students will select the same civilization based on the current group being studied in class. This will both reinforce what is being learned during their Social Studies time and ensure that all groups have equal technologies. 3. Students will all choose single player on the game set-up screen. 4. They will need to click on the random map and choose the following levels for each given category:
Group 1 Difficulty: easy Other Players: 1 Map Type: Black Forest Map Size: Small Resources: Standard Population: 100 Reveal Map: All visible
Group 2 Difficulty: easy Other Players: 1 Map Type: Arabia Map Size: Small Resources: Standard Population: 100 Reveal Map: All visible
15 Starting age: Standard Victory: Standard Starting Age: Standard Victory: Standard
5. Students will begin the game. They start with 5 villagers. Students must build homes and store food in order to support a larger population of villagers. To meet this challenge, players must stockpile wood and food. Each student will play the game to the best of his or her ability for the designated period of time. I would suggest at least 2 - one hour class periods to allow for the civilizations to grow and advance. Students should be encouraged to research any new technologies that become available to them. As they play, student should record the answers to these questions and be prepared to discuss them in class.
What resources were available to you in your assigned geographic location?
How did the availability or lack of resources affect your ability to support your village? Be specific.

What natural resource had the biggest impact on your villages ability to grow and advance?
How did the new technologies help your village progress? What two technologies had the biggest impact on your progress? Why? How did your villagers adapt to their geographic location? In other words, what did they do to the environment to ensure their survival?
Pull the class together and using their recorded information, have them discuss the advantages and disadvantages of their assigned geographic location. All
16 questions should be discussed as a class before moving on to the next activity. Team one Black Forest student with a Arabia student and together have them create a Venn diagram, comparing and contrasting the two areas. They should be encouraged to include any similar technologies, resources etc. They should also discuss and include anything that was unique to their particular location.
Saudi Arabia is a great example of a community of people who have been greatly affected by the natural resources of their country. Have students research Saudi Arabia before the discovery of oil.
Were they able to grow or procure sufficient food for all their people? Did their lack of natural resources negatively affect them or had they adapted well to their environment.
How has the discovery of oil changed their ability to support their people and progress as a culture?
Has this discovery had any negative affects on the people and their culture?
Have students create a report on Saudi Arabia which answers these and any other questions they may have.

Science Connection.

California State Standard Ecology (Life Science) e. Students know the number and types of organisms an ecosystem can support depends on the resources available and on abiotic factors, such as quantities of light and water, a range of temperatures, and soil composition. Students can create an experiment which shows the affects of the environment on plant life.
Comment [TH1]: Im not sure what this is doing here. It seems just stuck in with no reference to why.
o Students will need plants of the same variety and as close in size as is possible. o A control group should be established with three plants growing in three different types of soil: Sand, potting soil and rocky dirt. These plants should be exposed to regular night and day conditions and moderate temperatures. o Plants should be grouped in threes, one plant of each soil type in each group. Each group should then be subjected to different environmental conditions. For Example: one group made to grow in the dark; One group exposed to light 24 hours a day; One group placed in the refrigerator etc. o Plants should be examined and growth data recorded daily o After a sufficient amount of time has passed, (one to two weeks), students can compile the data and create a report on how plants are affected by the environmental condition they are exposed to.

Blackline Masters

This blackline master was created to be used with lesson one of this Teachers Guide.

Hunter - Gatherer

Farmers
Advantages of this type of food gathering.
Disadvantages of this type of food gathering
Affects on the environment
Labor distribution in the society

Teacher Resources

Official Age of Empires II Website http://www.microsoft.com/games/age2/
Macsoft - a website for Macintosh users http://www.macsoftgames.com/products/age2/MacSoft-Age2-page.html

References

California State Board of Education. Grade 6. History Social Science Content Standards. Retrieved on December 10, 2004 from http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/hstgrade6.asp California State Board of Education. Grade 6. Science Standards. Retrieved on December 10, 2004 from http://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/scgrade6.asp Kuntz M. (1999). Teachers Guide An Educational Companion for SimCity 3000 For Grades 6 and Above. Electronic Arts.