App 3: GamesForChange
GamesForChange is a great tool for finding online games that pertain to different subject areas. The only downside is that it takes you offsite to play these games, which has the potential to cause problems with school networks. The games are divided by age and by topic so I decided to play the ReDistricting game in the civics section.
The game has you try to reform districts in order to have an equal distribution of the population while still swaying the vote in favor of your party. You just drag the borders of the district around the map until you hit the required number.
Once you reorganize the districts your plan has to be approved by the legislature, the governor and the courts. if it is not approved at one step you must go back to the map and revise the plan. Once you master the basics then you can move on to different tasks.
The games are easy to play and I think they would be useful in teaching students potentially important concepts. However at the same time there are games that are inappropriate for younger children, like the migrant game that has you play as a border patrol agent and collect illegal immigrants crossing over and the bodies of those who did not survive the trek. So in order to use the website, the content needs to be throughly checked out to determine if they are age appropriate. Other than that, Games4Change could be a useful tool in the classroom.