Simulation Games
Have you wanted to try out simulation games in your Ancient Civilizations class but weren’t sure where to start? Or you didn’t want to spend all of your free time putting something together? If so, this post will help! We’ll share ideas about what makes for a great simulation experience and walk through some examples for each civilization your students might study throughout the year.
Teaching with Simulations
Why should you consider teaching with simulations? Simulations have the opportunity to bring a historical topic to life in a way that more traditional activities cannot. This is especially true when students are taking on new roles or actions that relate to how people might have lived or the choices they could have made in the past. Simulations can also present information in a new way that can be more exciting and engaging than traditional teaching methods. Because of this, and since they have more of a personal stake in the topic, students will be more likely to retain what they learned.
There are a lot of simulations out there, but we have found that from a teacher perspective, some simulations are simply too much work. We don’t believe that a simulation should require teachers to purchase a bunch of supplies ahead of time, transform their whole classroom, and cut up or assemble supplies. That’s too time-consuming, so we designed all of our simulations to require no additional supplies (besides printing out the student handouts), no assembly, and an effortless experience going through the guided slideshow!
We have also found that some simulations try to bring certain events to life that could be harmful to certain students, especially in the case of difficult historical events. Therefore, we do not recommend using simulations in these contexts.
Ancient Civilizations Simulations
Are you looking for simulations to use in your Ancient Civilizations class? Keep scrolling to check out each of the following simulations: Early Humans Survival Simulation, Persian Empire Simulation, Nile River Simulation, Mohenjo Daro Simulation, Silk Road Simulation, Ancient Greece Panhellenic Games Simulation, Roman Empire Archaeological Simulation, and Knighthood Simulation!
These are all game-based simulations that each cover a variety of rounds. While each simulation varies slightly, each round addresses a specific topic that is relevant to that simulation. Students will usually need to make a decision about what they might have done during that time period, or they may roll the dice to see what they might have experienced. Whether they make a choice, roll the dice, or even if they do both in a round, students will gain or lose points, which adds an extra fun and competitive element to the simulation! Most of our simulations also include explanation slides and trivia questions to help students better understand what happened during the round and why they might have received the points they did.
Early Humans Simulation
Students will learn what it took to survive during prehistoric times with this Survival Simulation! They will need to choose a location, prepare a shelter, find or create tools, find food, migrate to new places, and more. This will help students understand just how difficult it might have been to survive without the many conveniences that make life possible and quite comfortable today.
Mesopotamia Simulation
As Mesopotamia was made up of several different groups over an extended period, we chose to focus on the Persian Empire and its achievements for this simulation. Students will serve as administrators to a Persian ruler and complete a variety of professional duties related to the government, the economy, taxation, use of the Royal Roads, and the construction of Persepolis through different scenarios.
Ancient Egypt Simulation
In this simulation, students will travel along the Nile River and learn about how it made life possible in Ancient Egypt. They will choose where they will live along the Nile River, set up a farm, trade their goods, and learn about the geography of the Nile River through different scenarios!
Ancient India Simulation
Mohenjo-Daro became a famous historical site as it was the largest city built by the Indus Valley Civilization, and it featured impressive urban planning and design elements. In this simulation, students will take on the role of an urban planner to design a city like Mohenjo-Daro. They will make choices related to the best building materials, adaptations to the climate, methods to keep the city safe and clean, and more!
Ancient China Simulation
To bring the study of Ancient China to life, students will travel and trade along the Silk Road in our Silk Road Simulation, collecting as many of the items as they can along their journey. Each round, they will choose a new city to travel to, get access to new traded goods, see what challenges they might have encountered, and answer a trivia question about the Silk Road!
Ancient Greece Simulation
The Ancient Greeks are well-known for their Olympic Games, so in this simulation, students will “compete” in several of the games popular in ancient times. These events or rounds include trumpeters and heralds, long jump, discus, footrace, javelin, wrestling, chariot race, and pankration. Students will participate in a classroom-friendly version of these games and also answer trivia questions about them. This could also be used as an activity prior to the modern winter or summer games, as it would provide more historical context.
Ancient Rome Simulation
As Roman Emperors conquered new territories, the size of the Roman Empire grew substantially. In this Roman Empire Archaeological Simulation, students take on the role of archaeologists to dig for artifacts at six different Roman sites. These sites include Roman Egypt, Gaul, Roman Britain, Pompeii, Rome, and Constantinople. Your students will have a great time learning about these different artifacts and locations!
Middle Ages Simulation
In this simulation, students take on the role of working to become a knight. They will begin their training by becoming a page and becoming a squire, before they become a knight in a knighthood ceremony. There are also rounds pertaining to chivalry, life on a feudal manor, and fighting in the Crusades! How will your students fare as medieval knights?
We hope you give simulations a try with your students! We have other game-based simulations for other subjects that you can check out here!
If you are looking for other resources and teaching ideas for Ancient Civilizations, check out this blog post about setting up an Ancient Civilizations Word Wall!
