As Historical Gamers we all understand the great fun and excitement that we have playing games based on history. We all enjoy either recreating a particular battle or event from the past or doing a one-off version of something that might have been. These games that we play with miniatures or boardgames give us a chance to experiance so much of our heritage and glimpse into the many facets pf the past. As a game retailer in St. Louis I have had the priviledge of occassionally visiting the young people of today and presenting history to them through the use of miniature games. With the help of local gamers or my store staff we have gone to schools when requested and discussed with classes aspects of history using the 3-D of miniatures to help the youngsters visualize military actions. We have found that our presentations have stirred great interest and many questions amongst the students. During a trip to an area Luthern Grade School in early 1992 we presented a mock battle of the American Civil War to Fifth and Sixth Graders. Starting our discussion with references to the movie "Glory" asking just how many children had seen the picture and did they like it. Many had and found the presentation that we offered interesting, as we discussed aspects of troop movement, camp life, weapons, communications, command and on. The Dispatch of HMGS-Mid South describes a visit by director Gerald Swick to a school for the learning disabled in Tennessee. Gerald's presentation of the American Civil War likewise peaked the interest of the youngsters and provided them with a visual account of history. Recent discussions with another director of HMGS-Mid South indicates that they will soon have a four week course at Columbia State College in Columbia, TN on the American Wars featuring miniatures. In another area of Metro St. Louis a teacher is using FASA's "Battletech" Game System to encourage skills on several levels with his students. The students must not only fight the battles with their robots sharpening their math skills but must also write reports, work out contracts and deals with other players. The entire project while focused on one game world is planned to increase their skills while letting them have fun through games. Using miniatures, boardgames or roleplaying games as educational tools is not only appropriate but just plain makes sense when they can be of benefit. I am aware of one game manufacturer that has even created lesson plans for some of their boardgames at this point. I would like to encourage educatiors that also play historical games to look at methods that these can be brought into the classroom setting. Currently there is a group of us within the game industry that believes that wealth of information available in games can help to educate our children. We also believe that these youngsters when given a positive look at the hobby may very well find it to be to their liking and take up gaming as a pastime in the future. We are actively seeking methods of pursuing these two goals. To that end I would like to encourage educators that are currently or have previously used any type of game in the classroom to contact me with information regarding their efforts as we are attempting to develop a basis of information on this topic. At this point we would love to hear from anyone that has either visited a classrom doing a presentation, used games as a class project or has worked with youth groups using games. The more ideas we have the more we collect and in turn offer back to those that may seek to use the option of games as alternate educational devises in the future. Back to MWAN #63 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1993 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com