Here at A Grade Ahead, we’re proud to provide your child with educational enrichment that can elevate their skills to new heights. While our math, English, and science programs can help students excel, there are other fantastic sources of educational enrichment hiding in places you wouldn’t expect. Unconventional education can provide fun, exciting ways to flex brain muscles and expand minds in new directions. One example: the evolution simulator Spore!
Spore is a simulation game released in 2008 that challenges players with a straightforward task. That is to create a microscopic organism and evolve it through the stages of life into an intelligent, spacefaring lifeform capable of exploring the stars. The game is broken down into various stages, each representing a different phase of an organism’s evolutionary lifecycle. The first stage, the Cell Stage, allows players to explore an evolutionary pool as their organism grows and changes. Next, the Creature Stage sees players move to land and design their own creature, where they can interact and befriend or attack other species. Then, the Tribal Stage explores the evolution of the brain in the species, allowing for community and society building. In the Civilization Stage, the player’s species becomes the dominant form of life in a modern society. Finally, players reach the Space Stage. So how exactly does this life development game benefit your learner? Let’s explore!
The Benefits of Spore!
Life Science
The concepts found in life science are at the forefront of Spore. The explorations of evolution along with the stages of life and how creatures adapt to their environment are constantly on display. This can be seen whether you are in the Cell Stage and choosing what sort of food your creature consumes or in the Creature Stage and building your creature and attempting to understand its functions. Just as it is a cornerstone of science in the real world, understanding how life functions and evolves is incredibly important to Spore. If this sparks your child’s interest, consider delving further into educational enrichment at with A Grade Ahead’s science programs!
Problem Solving
The Creature, Tribal, and Civilization stages of Spore introduce brand new concepts such as understanding dynamics between species, resource management, and economics. All of these require a very important life skill: problem solving! When your child plays games like Spore that challenge them to tackle difficult tasks, they learn how to solve problems in unique and creative ways. The decision making and problem solving needed in Spore can easily be translated to everyday life, whether that be solving social problems between friends or deciding the best way to allocate limited resources. Practicing these skills in a game can help your child be ready to utilize and apply them in the real world! If your child enjoys problem solving and critical thinking, consider enrolling them in a math or English enrichment program, in which they can continue to hone their skills. Take a free assessment today!
Astronomy
During the Space Stage, players face the challenge of navigating a massive solar system. They’ll also interact with various life forms throughout the simulated galaxy. Of course, problem solving is still incredibly important during this stage. The new challenges of the stars introduce players to various principles of astronomy as well! During this stage, players need to explore various moons and stars, observe geology, and learn to terraform various planets. All of these principles are valuable to scientific understanding.
Start Educational Enrichment!
So, do you think your child might like to take up the challenge? Particularly the challenge of developing a species through each phase of evolution and reach for the stars? Spore is available on Windows and Mac systems to this day! Playing games allows your child to apply the skills they learn in school and at A Grade Ahead. This can be an incredibly enriching and educating experience. They’ll expand their minds in new directions!
Spore is just another in a line of options for unconventional education. Have you played before? What other unconventional education sources do your children enjoy? Let us know below! We love to find ways to raise students to new heights!
Author: Jackie Aukerman, Curriculum Assistant at A Grade Ahead, Inc.
