Game gives students a first look at city planning
Game gives students a first look at city planning
Game gives students a first look at city planning
February 06 , 2021
Summary
Virtual engineering and city planning would seem to be classes for college students, but middle and high school students are studying those subjects in Pine Bluff.
Recently, students have been learning about virtual engineering concepts and city planning, with the help of Sederick Charles Rice, an associate professor of biology at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and a Center for the Advancement of STEM Leadership fellow.
Rice, who mentors the students, instructs them in the use of Cities: Skylines, which is an interactive single-player sandbox city simulation game available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch gaming systems, according to a news release.
Students use Cities: Skylines to learn and apply virtual engineering concepts in municipality infrastructure design, understand city planning strategies and resource management and zoning.
Acting as virtual mayors, students are challenged to use critical thinking skills to deal with realistic traffic congestion, and make decisions for the effective use of city services, taxation, education, health care, and employment needs of citizens.
Students work independently each month to create and develop their own virtual cities and then prepare videos of their work for upload and sharing on YouTube, during Ivy Center meetings.
The overall goal of the program is to help students apply virtual engineering principles and concepts to learn more about the technical and political processes of urban planning and pollution control.
Reference
Game gives students a first look at city planning. (2021, February 06). Retrieved April 09, 2021, from https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/feb/06/game-gives-students-a-first-look-at-city-planning/