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Content: Power Up is an online game designed to teach younger students the importance of remaining fiscally and environmentally responsible when it comes to municipal energy.
Design: The game is not very complicated, and that is advantageous, given its target audience. Each method of energy production has a small animated avatar that appears when selected. A large meter rests at the bottom of the page so that players can monitor their spending as well as the environmental impact of their decisions.
Review: While the concept of the game is simple, achieving success requires a little work. Students encounter three methods of generating power for a city. All three have a cost, power output and environmental impact number. Naturally, the higher the power output, the higher the cost and environmental impact. If a player spends all his money before reaching the target power output, he must start over. Likewise, if the environmental impact becomes too great, players must begin again.
The game becomes a bit complicated when the player is presented with a second set of three power options. They can be a completely different set of options, meaning players have to anticipate what their options may be and act frugally when purchasing power methods.
Bottom Line: Power Up is a nice tool for getting kids to think about environmental issues, fiscal responsibility and the impact of energy consumption.
Article by Jason Tomaszewski, EducationWorld Associate Editor
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