Games: Powerful Tools for Learning

Games and simulations (ranging from role playing to case studies, from guided fantasy to problem solving) have become widely recognized methods for instruction and learning.Since the early work in the United States in the late 1950s and in Europe in the late 1960s, gaming/simulation has become increasingly important to training and decision-making processes in academic settings as well as business, the military, and the social sciences.Soon to be added to the new shopping list of games is WANGO, 1 a teaching game about the U.S. Food Marketing System.WANGO is currently in the final stages of development by a team from the University of California Cooperative Extension.It may well be the first example of a game targeted at the complex U.S. Food Marketing System.But why a game?