Hanse 1380 - A learning game for the german maritime museum

Abstract

In an one year lasting project at the University of Applied Sciences in Bremerhaven a digital learning game for the German Maritime Museum in Bremerhaven was developed. It is targeted to school pupils in the age between 10 and 14 and should explain the importance of the cog for trading activities between Hanse cities in the 14th century. More detailed learning objectives were defined through a survey with history teachers from Bremen. The historical research was done in cooperation with the museum. Another key-interest was the design and building of an easy-to-use and attractive computer terminal including a special control-interface for the game. The resulting game is evaluated in an user-test with 29 school pupil. It shows that the game makes fun and is easy to understand. Approx. 50% of the pupils achieved all learning objectives. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.