EA has announced SimCityEDU in conjunction with GlassLab. SimCityEDU is an educational portal aimed at teachers to help them come up with lesson plans that use the SimCity video game set to launch in March. The educational portal is a place where teachers will be able to create and share SimCity-based lesson plans.
SimCity sounds like a lot more fun than Oregon Trail or Lemonade Stand we had in classrooms when I was a kid. EA says that the resource for classroom teachers will help them to improve the interest for students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects.
EA promises the SimCity will help students in the classroom hone skills through urban planning, environmental management, and socio-economic development. “For decades, SimCity has been embraced by the educational community as an engaging videogame that also provides a powerful learning experience, teaching problem solving skills through imaginative civic game play,” said Lucy Bradshaw, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA’s Maxis Label. “We want to up the ante of SimCity’s educational influence. Through our partnership with GlassLab, SimCity will become the foundation of a program to re-imagine learning in a way that will inspire today’s youth to get excited about STEM education and become the problem solvers of tomorrow.”