Sid Meier Civilisation VI 6

Teaching with videogames: building a better society with 'Sid Meier's Civilisation VI'

What would you do differently if you were in charge of a developing nation?

Sid Meier's Civilisation VI gives students the opportunity to build a city, and consider decisions that people throughout history have made with reference to environment, economies, conflict, technologies and civics.

Content note: this game makes reference to "settling", Barbarians and war. We recommend using this lesson plan in the context of broader teaching about colonisation, with sensitivity to the experiences of First Nations peoples.

Year level: 7 & 8

Subject areas: Geography, history, humanities

Suggested duration: 1 lesson

Technology required:

  • licences for Sid Meier's Civilisation VI, $89.95 or cheaper during sales. Ideally enough licences for groups of 4-5 students
  • ability to watch an introductory video together on YouTube

Download the full lesson plan

The lesson plan includes links to the Victorian Curriculum, indications of lesson timing, and ideas for differentiation and assessment.

In this lesson, students will

1.Watch excerpts and play Sid Meier's Civilisation VI
2.Make choices about where to build a city, weighing natural advantages like access to water, crops suitability, natural resources
3.Consider ancient civilisations and their city building decisions
4.Critically assess decisions of nation builders

By the end of this lesson, students should

know
major time periods in history and how societies progressed over time
be able to
describe elements that helped civilisations to thrive
improve
their historical analysis skills by being able to critically assess choices made by nation leaders and the possible motivations behind them

Authorial credit

You are free to copy, communicate and adapt this lesson plan which was created by Ben Lawless, Sita Fatchen and ACMI and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.