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Abstract: Industrial Re:evolution is an educational game developed by a collaborative team of educators, historians, game designers, and developers. The game allows students to hypothesise about the underlying causal mechanisms of the Industrial Revolution while managing population and resources across 19 discrete regions in England and Wales from 1600 to 1851. The game was developed through a series of participatory workshops, which led to a gameplay concept based on a comprehensive model of the Industrial Revolution, centred on key theoretical frameworks. Through role-playing, problem solving, and in-class discussions, students are encouraged to explore various factors that contribute to the Industrial Revolution and their interdependencies. It helps them develop a deeper understanding of the intricate relationships between different causal factors, improving their ability to explain and analyse complex historical events, and promoting quantitative skills. The game is an open-ended historical simulation based on state-of-the-art research, providing students with the opportunity to interact with real historical data. To enhance classroom implementation, the game is provided with structured activities, lesson plans, student booklets, and multimedia materials, while an online platform will eventually offer a community for educators to share best practices. This study describes the design choices and development of the game.
Keywords: Educational Technology, Gamification, Historical Learning, Educational Game Design, Participatory Design
1. Introduction
This article presents work from the research programme 'Gaming the Industrial Revolution' (GIR), which led to the creation of an educational game called Industrial Re:evolution. Designed to support and augment the teaching of economic history - specifically the Industrial Revolution - for secondary school students, the game serves as a hands-on learning tool suitable for classroom implementation. It was developed through research collaboration between the University of Cambridge, the University of Salford, game designers and developers, and a group of history teachers between 2019 and 2023. This collaboration facilitated the incorporation of roleplaying, problem-solving, and class discussions into gameplay, providing a comprehensive approach to game design. This project marks one of the first attempts to purpose-build an educational game to measure the impact of gamification on learning attainment, cultural capital accumulation, and the development of higher-order thinking skills.
GIR was conceived to provide a resource that helps students articulate multiple causal chains in a game format, allowing them to explore causal links...