by
NARR:
Fourteen sixth-graders file into the computer lab at Middle School 324 for an afternoon class. Eager to get started, they sit in front of monitors and quickly click on the icon for Food Force. Art teacher Julie Shannon gives instructions.
SHANNON:
I want you to think about what food security is and how the missions in this game affect or deal with food security, whether there's a lack of food security…
NARR:
The players have to complete six missions to save starving people on the fictitious island of Sheylan. They locate villagers from a helicopter and drive food trucks over rough terrain laden with land mines. Twelve-year-old Aryel Vargas says she likes Food Force because it's different than the violent video games kids usually play.
ARYEL VARGAS:
Almost all the games are about killing people and robbing and this one is a better game for kids because you get to learn about how people are hungry and how you can help.
ROWE:
While there's no violence there's still a life and death situation.
NARR:
World Food Programme spokesman Trevor Rowe describes how the game generates excitement without using violence.
ROWE:
People are starving, they're hungry and you have to help them.
NARR:
Food Force, which simulates rescue missions, is available for free download.
FF GAME:
A major crisis has developed in the Indian Ocean on the island of Sheylan.
ROWE:
And the clock is ticking.
FF GAME:
At least one million people have fled their villages. They're out in the open with no food or water.
ROWE:
You have to get the food, the funding, the transport.
FF GAME:
Remember you have limited funds with which to buy food and that delivery by ship takes weeks or even months.
ROWE:
You've got to get the food to the people who need it.
FF GAME:
Ok, everybody to your vehicles, we're ready to roll…
NARR:
Excitement aside, the Food Force game is less effective in explaining the causes of hunger. Dr. Monisha Bajaj, of Columbia University's Teachers College, says that's a weakness in many teaching tools.
BAJAJ:
Education about development issues must take into account why these realities exist today, not just why are going to drop food some where, but understanding why it is that these realities exist when there is enough wealth and resources today to have a decent standard of living, how come that's not the case?
NARR:
So it's up to the teachers to provide the context and background for the complex issues presented in the game. Shannon says she tries to bring it to a personal level for her students, many of whom are Dominican. When she told them that one in four people in the Dominican Republic are hungry…
SHANNON:
They argued with me about this. They said 'No way, Miss Shannon, we're not hungry, we're here.' So I'm like, 'OK so let's look at that. Why are you here?"
NARR:
In the classroom, they talk about poverty and environmental degredation and migration as causes and results of hunger. Shannon also pushes them to think about solutions.
SHANNON:
How do you ensure that they're going to be able to get food when the food from the World Food Programme runs out?
STUDENT:
They need to grow food and they need their own communities. So it's not really because they don't have money or they're poor, it's mostly because of the weather and where they live.
SHANNON:
Ok, so there are other circumstances that are affecting their being able to have food all the time.
NARR:
Shannon supplements the video game with math, science and art activities provided in the Food Force lesson plans. And she plans to take the students on a field trip the United Nations later this year.
SOC: Marcelle Hopkins, Columbia Radio News.