SimCity is a game many people will be familiar with – I’ve been playing different versions of it since a school friend of mine got it for his Amiga. Acting as Mayor you get to build a city from the ground up, and usually end up smashing it to bits and burning it down too. During it you face a plethora of challenges, such as managing the budget, keeping crime and pollution under control, as well as dealing with various natural disasters. It was essentially a serious game without ever intending to be.

But a company called GlassLab developed SimCityEDU, taking aspects of the game and making it into lesson sized exercises for school pupils – the video below explains the impact of the classes.

SimCityEDU Overview from GlassLab on Vimeo.

There is so much potential in this – I’d love to explore the use of it in Higher Education and science communication.