Age of Empires

Age of Empires is a game with 3 base versions and multiple expansion packs that allow users to take control of different civilizations and do battle. The different editions of the game focus on different aspects of history. The first version focuses mostly on the world before Rome, The second game focuses on the world while Monarchies were the prevailing style of government, and the third game focusing on the exploration and revolution era.

The reason why the game can be used in teaching history is the fact that it is a civilization simulator. Depending on the style of game being played (campaign or free for all) players are required to accomplish numerous goals to achieve victory. They also must start with low resources and advance through what the game calls "ages". Ages are similar to periods of history in the first game players start in the Stone Age and must advance through to the Iron Age. As the ages progress, the technology available to the player improves.

Another great aspect of the game is that the available technologies are limited based on which civilization you choose. If you pick one of the native American tribes you do not have access to elephant warriors or iron weapons at first. Also some civilizations gain technologies prior to others based on when they would have obtained it historically. Also each civilization has a special unit that only they can have and it is based on something unique to the civilization, for example the British have longbow men and the Vikings have berserkers.

Another thing that players must navigate is resources and population. The game has a very low population limit to start and players must build housing in order to build more units, however the game has a maximum of 200 units and once reached you can't build anymore soldiers or peasants. It forces players to decide if they want to have enough peasants to keep stockpiling resources or if they want to sacrifice production for more soldiers.

Players may also choose to build  alliances with other either human or computer civilizations and depending on previous actions, the treaty is accepted or rejected.

One of the more overarching aspects of the game is Campaign mode. Campaign mode allows players to take control of a specific civilization and go through levels based on the civilizations history. In the campaign for the Mongols, the player takes control of Genghis Kahn and goes through the rise of the Mongols. In the French campaign the player takes control of Joan of Arc. The third game changes more to an alternate history view of the world with the player fighting against an organization known as "The Circle" while taking part in historical events such as the French and Indian war and the American Revolution.

The many uses of SeaHawk starring Errol Flynn

Filmed at the height of World War 2, the movie SeaHawk tells the story of Captain Thorpe and English Privateer who is based off of the famous pirate Sir Francis Drake. Thorpe, a privateer of Queen Elizabeth sails the seas in his ship the Albatross. In an attempt to weaken the Spanish empire, and thus derail them from attacking England, he sets off to the New World in an attempt to intercept the Spanish Treasure fleet. During the attempt, he and his men are captured and sentenced to work on Spanish ships for the rest of their lives. While serving his sentence Thorpe discover the Spanish plans to invade England via the Spanish Armada. After escaping his imprisonment and fighting his way back to England, Thorpe is knighted by Queen Elizabeth and gives her the evidence needed to justify the building of a large English navy to protect England.

While the subjects that this film can be used to teach may seem straight forward, there are some interesting nuances to the film.

The obvious areas that you can teach with this movie are Piracy during the age of Exploration, the reign of Queen Elizabeth and the Spanish Armada. Those aspects of the movie are directly talked about and shown. However their are two subjects that are a bit more hidden. The first is the fact that this movie can be used to teach World War 2. In the movie the king of Spain states his dream to rule the world, however historians agree that this ambition was not present in King Phillip. But seeing as the film was made in 1940, it is well known that the makers of the movie were using King Phillip to represent Hitler and Spain to represent Germany. The movie has some very overt scenes that make it clear that the movie SeaHawk is talking about England's role as the only European power fighting against Hitler at the time.

Going off of the aspect of Spain being used to represent WW2 Germany, this film can be used to teach about propaganda and show students how movies and the media have been used to influence public opinion on world events. 

U.S. Government and the West Wing

Knowing how the U.S. Government runs is a very important aspect in being a well educated citizen. However learning about how the Government runs can be a very tedious and boring process.
Thankfully for teacher's everywhere there is a TV show that shows accurately how the Federal Government of the United states works. That show is NBC's "The West Wing"

Starting in 1998, Writer Aaron Sorkin and NBC created a show following the Presidency of Fictional Democrat Josiah "Jed" Bartlett. The show focused on the interactions of President Bartlett and his Senior Staff. But along the way the show clearly demonstrates how the U.S. Government works.

For example the episode "The Stackhouse Fillibuster"

Senator Stackhouse

In this episode the Senate is attempting to pass a monumental Family Wellness bill designed to help families get healthcare. However Senator Stackhouse holds up the passage of the bill in an attempt to get 47 million dollars of funding added to the bill to help combat autism across the United States(it is later revealed that his grandson has autism) The episode is mostly accurate in showing how a single senator used to be able to use unlimited debate to prevent the passage of a bill(the record by a single senator was Strom Thurmond's 24 hours and 18 minute filibuster of the 1957 Civil Rights bill) However the only flaw in the episode is that in reality even when answering a question during a filibuster, the filibustering senator may not sit down.

Congressman Matt Santos

With election season coming up the entire sixth and seventh seasons of the show are great for showing the inner workings of a campaign. The sixth season focuses on the Democrat Presidential primary race between Matt Santos and Bob Russell to see who will replace President Bartlet. The show depicts how candidates sometimes have to change their feelings on certain issues to gain support (i.e. ethanol as a fuel) and how campaigns need large amounts of money to effectively win. The show also has a brokered convention, in which neither candidate has achieved enough votes to secure the nomination.

Vice President Bob Russell

The seventh season focuses primarily on the race between the Matt Santos, the Democrats nominee for president and Arnold Vinick, the Republican Nominee for president, to see who will succeed president Bartlett. The show gives a behind the scenes look at the underhanded aspects of a presidential primary race, from the possibility of a love child, the possible politicizing of a nuclear plant meltdown, to the death of a vice presidential candidate.

Arnold Vinick, President Bartlett, Matt Santos