and

Teach Like A Gamer,

a division of Canis Learning Systems
(canislearning.com)

presents

Alternative Energy Science Lesson Plan

Using Electronic Arts’ SimCity™ Societies

© 2008 AlternativeEnergy.com, All Rights Reserved

Written by Azam Khan

SimCity Societies © 2008 Electronic Arts Inc. SimCity is a trademark or registered trademark of Electronic Arts Inc. in
the U.S. and/or other countries. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Screenshots of SimCity Societies used with permission.

Distribution Relationships Include:

 “SimCity Societies is in the unique
position of educating while
entertaining. BP Alternative Energy's
“Using the popular SimCity Societies
sponsorship of the SimCity Societies
video game to introduce alternative
game provided us with the technical
power to our children is a good idea
expertise to build 'energy choices and
and alternativeenergy.com has done a
consequences' into the gameplay, so
very fine job with the lesson plans.”
that youth around the world can be
better informed. We welcome
---- Marilyn Nemzer, Director, Energy
AlternativeEnergy.com's efforts
Education Group
towards our 'educating while
entertaining' philosophy.”

---- Steve Seabolt, VP, Global Brand

Development, Electronic Arts Inc.

“AlternativeEnergy.com has created a

“The proposed educational game is
exactly the kind of media tool needed
now for engaging the upcoming
generation in ecologically informed
decision making. Future leaders in all
fields will benefit from testing alternative
scenarios with the quickness that games
provide. Fast feedback that comes from
gaming is a top notch approach to proving
what works, and what doesn't - in
simulating real world issues that matter
more every day as we move into the
future of energy transformation. Given
the superior experience that hands on,
heads up gaming provides, this proposal
to engage educators in green gaming is
a winner, for sure.”
highly innovative approach to teaching
students about alternative energy.
From its engaging in-game challenges
to the informative and practical real
world assignments, this curriculum
presents leading edge science in a way
that students will find fun and
memorable. I look forward to trying
this with my students.”
---- Lucia Moritz, 6th grade math
teacher, Foshay Learning Center

---- Allen Green, greenplanning.org

2|Page
 Introduction
SimCity Societies is a highly dynamic city-constructing simulation game that allows a
player to create a civilization in a myriad of ways. Ultimately shaped by the choices of
the creator, cities can embody the characteristics of green, futuristic, industrial and lots of
other societal models.

All the elements of the city are connected, whether cultural or environmental, thus
making a novel approach to city-building. The city is shaped by the decisions that affect
the main attributes:

 Productivity
 Prosperity
 Creativity
 Spirituality
 Authority
 Knowledge

The socio-political freedom allotted to the player is complemented by abilities to

implement over 500 unique objects on the micro scale, ranging from workplaces to
residential buildings and venues. With the availability of such diverse aspects such as
architectural aesthetics, SimCity Societies provides students a dazzling and holistic
learning experience.

This will help students learn about alternative energy in the fun game environment that
students love by allowing them to build a simulated city while learning about the impact
of alternative energy. The curriculum has 10 lessons, each one is divided into two main
parts:

 Game play
 Real-world applications

Students will learn the basics in the tutorial, and then commence their own city. They will
also do research at home that will expose them to various aspects of alternative energy
and how it can be applied in their own school.

The students should record everything in a journal or whatever format the teacher feels is
best.

Author’s Bio

Azam Khan is a curriculum developer with Canis Learning Systems. He is also a

freelance program designer who creates study programs that accompany popular video
games. His upcoming projects will continue exploring the frontiers of progressive
learning. Updates can be found on his blog at virtualstudent.com.

3|Page
User Requirements

To get the most out of these lesson plans, you will need:

 SimCity Societies - from Amazon.com

 Computing Platform Requirements
 Journal (to record class questions and homework
assignments)

Intended Audience

GreenCity is intended for students in grades 6-12, but it is fun for

all ages. Each lesson plan contains game play and real world
homework or assignments that can be applied across several
grade levels.

Time Frame

GreenCity is created around 10 lesson plans that may be distributed according to your
own time frame. The SimCity Societies game play elements do take some time to
develop, so it may be best to plan on X weeks to completely finish the lessons.

Resources

 AlternativeEnergy.com home page

 Best energy educational sites
 Teachers Group to share ideas
 Kids fun activities – rate the best activities on the web
 awea.org - General industry news and links for Wind Energy
 windpower.org - Understanding how to setup a wind turbine
 windustry.org - Understanding wind energy
 solarenergy.org - Understanding solar energy
 solarexpert.com - Solar installation
 alliantenergygeothermal.com - Geothermal Resource
 epa.gov - Emissions Calculator
 dsireusa.org incentives for renewable energy projects in your state
 bpalternativenergy.com alternative energy facts

4|Page
 Contents
Lesson 1 - LEARN THE BASICS OF CITY DEVELOPMENT
Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 2 - APPLY ACQUIRED KNOWLEDGE TOWARDS CREATING A CITY

Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 3 - CONTROL HOMELESS AND UNEMPLOYED POPULATION

Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 4 - IDENTIFY AND MEASURE THE EFFECTS OF POLLUTION

Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 5 - ANALYZE CITY BEFORE BEGIN THE "GREENING PROCESS"

Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 6 - GREENIFY CITY

Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 7 - IDENTIFY THE EFFECTS ON CARBON AND POLLUTION

Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 8 - SIMILAR ECONOMY DESPITE INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLES

Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 9 - MEET THE ACHIEVEMENTS

Game Play
Real – World Assignment

Lesson 10 - MISSING FORMS OF ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Real – World Assignment

5|Page
 Lesson 1
Objective: Students will learn the basics of city development by following the tutorial
and laying out the foundations of a fun city.

In Game:

1. Start Game
2. Pick Name
3. Play Tutorial

Tutorial focuses on creation of Fun City:

Setup Power -> Residential buildings -> Workplaces -> Transit system -> Happiness &
Venues -> Expansion

Home Activity:

Research basic information pertaining to your locale

1. What is the population of your city? How many students at your school? How
many staff?
2. What utility companies are supplying electricity to your city and what energy
sources are they using?

Subject area - Technology

Standard - Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems,
and operations.
Benchmark - Understand and use technology systems.

6|Page
 Lesson 2
Objective: Students will apply acquired knowledge from tutorial towards creating a city
from scratch that will initially use polluting power sources

In Game:

Start new city on normal difficulty and buildings unlocked as game progresses.

Begin by choosing an achievement to work towards. Click achievements on the lower left
hand side. Pick one of the 7 that you want to achieve.

Choose the game speed on the lower left hand side. There are 5 to choose from. It is
recommended you start off at 2 and then increase to 3 or 4 after the basics of your city are
laid out.

Create city:
1. Implement a polluting fossil fuel power source (for example, coal and natural gas)
2. Setup residential area
3. Setup transit (roads)
4. Setup workplaces, venues and decorations

Home Activity:

Research the basic science behind coal. Coal is the most abundant electricity generating
resource used today. Answer the following questions as best as possible:
1. How is coal formed?
2. Where is coal found and how do you get it?
3. How is coal processed?
4. How does coal generate electricity?

Subject area - Technology

Standard - Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems,
and operations.
Benchmark - Understand and use technology systems.

7|Page
 Lesson 3
Objective: Students will demonstrate the ability to properly progress in city development
while keeping homeless and unemployed population less than 5% of population and 10 or
fewer workers whose mood is sad.

At this point you are free to build as you see fit. You will now grow the city in
accordance to what you want to achieve. As more people get jobs at workplaces, you will
see money come in near the end of the day. It is recommended you monitor your income
so you do not spend too much. Also try to keep homeless people and unemployment
workers to a minimum.

In Game:

1. Continue growing city and explore buildings with "clickable" functions

2. Try to keep unemployment, crime, and homeless levels less than 10% of
population
3. Record any messages related to pollution in journal
4. Explore Industrialist buildings. Is your city an industrialist city? Do you equate
industrialists with polluting? Why or why not?

A class discussion should follow briefly going over the coal homework assignment from
last night.

Home Activity:

Research environmental impact of fossil fuels.

1. What is global warming? What is the science behind CO2 emissions and global
warming?
2. Find levels of carbon emissions for any year in the 90s or 00s for Coal, Petroleum
and Gas
3. Find how much kWh generated by Coal, Petroleum, and Gas for any year

8|Page
 Lesson 4
Objective: Students will identify and measure the effects of pollution on their SimCity

In Game:

1. Continue building towards achievement. If achievement desire has changed - then

note so and explain why the change occurred.
2. On the lower left hand side, click the Sim info card
3. Record the smog & carbon graphs along with % contributions from cars and
buildings
4. Explore Romantic buildings. What common elements do you see?
5. Explore decorations that provide nearby effects. What do you find interesting?

Home Activity:

Research the economics/finance behind energy sources being used in the school
1. Find the price of kWh being paid to the utility company
2. What's the cost of getting a power pole added to the grid?
3. What is the school's electricity bill per month? per year?

Subject area - Technology

Standard - Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
Benchmark - Process data and report results.

9|Page
 Lesson 5
Objective: Students will demonstrate the ability to analyze their city before they begin
the "greening process".

In Game:

1. Click info card on bottom left side of the screen

2. Record happiness level
3. Record Budget
4. Record Crime
5. Explore Contemplative buildings. What common elements do you see? What are
examples of contemplative buildings in your own city?

In the last 10-15 minutes, a class discussion should ensue talking about the greening of
the city. The students should beginning planning out a greening strategy for their city.
This will involve bulldozing any sources that have a CO2 level of medium or high.
Depending on how far they have progressed, they will have options of choosing from
other low to 0 carbon emitting sources such as Coal-Hydrogen, Hydrogen, Nuclear,
Geothermal, Wind and Solar. Each power plant varies in price and the amount of energy
it generates, so they must consider the tradeoffs involved and not remove polluting power
plants too fast unless they have the ability (money) to replace the amount of power that
was being generated.

Briefly introduce wind, solar, and geothermal energy from a scientific perspective.

Home Activity:

Research the science behind how solar & wind

1. How do each work?
2. What makes them renewable?
3. How widespread is their use?

Subject area – Technology

Standard - Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information.
Benchmark - Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use
information from a variety of sources and media.

10 | P a g e
 Lesson 6
Objective: Students will demonstrate the ability to greenify their city

In Game:

1. Click the bulldozer icon and bulldoze all power plants with medium and high
CO2 level emissions. Do this only if you've done the research and have enough
money to compensate for the lost power. Remember: Renewable sources are
MORE expensive per unit of electricity they generate.
2. Calculate how much total power will be generated by the renewable energy
sources
3. Forecast how you think the city will change at this time (carbon, health, budget,
pollution, etc.) and record.
4. Explore the Cyberpunk buildings. What elements do you think unifies them?
What do you think of when you think of cyberpunk?
5. Write your thoughts about "knowledge" and what that means in real life. What are
the end results of having knowledge-based activity in a city?

Home Activity:

Research environmental impact of switching to renewable energy.

1. How many kW does the school need to operate?
2. Estimate how much CO2 would be reduced if the school was to use ONLY
renewable energy.
3. It is said that one of the concerns of implementing a wind turbine is that it leads to
avian death (birds, bats etc). Would this be an issue at your school? Why or why
not?
4. How would solar panels / wind turbines look if placed in your school? How do
students and staff feel about them? How about neighbors that live near the
school?

11 | P a g e
 Lesson 7
Objective: Students will identify the effects on carbon and pollution as they green their
SimCity.

In Game:

1. Click the message log at the bottom of the screen and record any messages regarding
pollution
2. Click info card and record the pollution and smog graphs and the relative contributions of
buildings and cars
3. Create an equation relating how much money was spent on renewable resources vs.
frequency of messages related to pollution (you should see the # of messages decline).
4. Evaluate the impact on health, happiness, as well as on the city’s income and budget.
5. Explore authoritarian buildings. What are some examples of authoritarian societies today
and what methods does the govt. use to maintain their authority? What's the opposite of
authority?
6. What is your level of crime? What factors in the game relate to crime?

Have a class discussion about going green. Students need to understand that using ONLY
renewable energy may not be financially feasible and only supplementing with renewable
energy sources is still doing a lot.

Home Activity:

Research economics of implementing wind & solar in school

1. Since you found out the kW requirements of the school to be using only
renewable energy, calculate the costs of the products that would be needed after
choosing a brand (costs only, not system design or installation costs). Students
will need to research online for companies that provide wind products and those
that provide solar.
2. What is the installation costs including system design and site surveying?
3. Calculate the payback period. In other words, when will the total costs of
renewable energy installation be made-up in savings?
4. Who are the decision makers at your school that would make decisions regarding
renewable energy?

12 | P a g e
 Lesson 8
Objective: Students will attain similar economic growth as before despite heavy
expenditure on renewable energy

In Game:

1. Improve the transit system in your city by considering either subway or bus stops.
How could either of those help lower pollution?
2. Explore the spiritual aspect of SimCity Societies by expanding a part of your city
and setting up spiritual venues, workplaces, residential areas. What do you
consider spirituality? What is the benefit of spirituality? (there must be something
or else why would SimCity Societies have a category in there)

Have a class discussion about on-grid and off-grid systems. On grid means that the
system would connect to the grid, so any energy you create you don't have to pay for, but
when you're not getting enough energy (which will happen in most cases), you can use
the electricity from the grid. Off-grid connects to batteries.

Home Activity:

Research regulatory framework

1. What permits are required?
2. What does it cost to apply for permits? (Wind turbines sit on towers so they need
specific permits. Solar may or may not depending on the area you are in)
3. Would these systems be connected to the electrical grid
4. How long would the entire process, from permits to installation take?
5. Find out current legislations that exist in your area.

Subject area - Technology

Standard - Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology
and practice legal and ethical behavior.
Benchmark - Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for
investigation.

13 | P a g e
 Lesson 9
Objective: Students will demonstrate attainment of long term goal by finishing the
requirements to meet the Achievements they initially aimed for.

In Game:

1. Accelerate speed as needed and put final touches on the city

2. Choose 5 different people (preferably in different parts of the city) by clicking on
them. Record what it shows. How happy are the people with you? (For example,
do they feel like you aren't spending enough? Are they angry about crime? Etc.)

Home Activity:

Research social issues around renewable energy

1. What are your personal views regarding the energy crisis and what role do you
think renewable energy can play? (Is it feasible, what are the challenges etc)
2. Interview one of your family members and ask them the question you answered
above. Ask them specifically about wind and solar. Ask them if they have heard
of the goal of 20% of America's electricity being generated by Wind by 2020
initiative. Does it sound feasible? Why or why not?

Subject area - Technology

Standard - Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology
and practice legal and ethical behavior.
Benchmark - Exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports
collaboration, learning, and productivity

What’s happening in this picture? Well you’ll just have to play more to find out. 

14 | P a g e
 Lesson 10
Missing forms of Alternative Energy

The game doesn’t address several forms of alternative energy. One of them has been
used for more than 100 years, geothermal energy. Although geothermal doesn't always
get as much attention in the news as either solar or wind energy, it is an important
renewable energy source.

Home Activity:

1. What is base load power? What is peaking power?

2. What are advantages and disadvantages of geothermal energy?
3. What produces more energy in a year a 100 MW wind farm or a 100 MW
geothermal project? Why?
4. Why do you think geothermal doesn’t get as much attention as solar or wind.
5. What other forms of alternative energy are there? List 3 and explain pros and
cons. You can use this site for research: http://alternativeenergy.com/group/wildideas

SOURCE: Geothermal Education Office

15 | P a g e
 Wrap Up
Conclusion and discussion of entire experience.

Teachers are encouraged to formulate their own discussion based on the experience the
class had not only of renewable energy but also of this learning with games experience.

Distribution Relationships:

16 | P a g e