Teacher goes viral after using Assassin's Creed to teach history

A middle school teacher has been incorporating Assassin's Creed into his lessons to "teach students about history," and a clip of his lesson has gone viral.

Instead of your typical history books and documentaries, Social Studies teacher Mr Mahathey has been using the popular action-adventure video game in order for his class to engage with learning.

The reason why Assassin's Creed is particularly helpful for history lessons is because the gameplay often makes references to Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and the American Revolution.

“So, right there, that’s going to be the entrance to Thermopylae. That’s a very narrow passageway in order for the Persians and the Greeks to fight," Mr Mahathey said in the TikTok now with over 1.7m views.

"Nothing like using Assassin’s Creed to teach the Battle of Thermopylae," he added in the caption, referring to the battle which took place in Greece in 480 BC.

Since sharing the video, the teacher has received widespread praise for incorporating Assassin's Creed in history lessons to make them more engaging.

One person said: "The one thing Ubisoft gets right is the historical accuracy of the locations in their games."

"That's smart I would 100 percent pay way more attention if my teacher did this," another person wrote.

Someone else added: "W teacher, W developers for creating such massive and close to accuracy game design."

"If I was taught like this I would’ve loved history a whole lot more," a fourth person commented.

While Mr Mahathey is not the first educator to highlight the benefits of using Assassin's Creed to educate students on history as academics have also used Assassin's Creed Origins to teach about Ancient Egypt.

Dr. Kate Sheppard, associate professor of History and Political Science at Missouri University of Science and Technology, and Dr. Chris Naunton, a writer, broadcaster, and Egyptologist, in 2021 told GamesRadar:

"I like to think that we can show the Egyptological community that video games can provide an incredibly realistic and immersive experience of a reconstructed past, which can be done with credibility and accuracy!

"And I guess we hope to provide some of the solid history and archaeology for gamers who are familiar with the game and environment but maybe not the real-world evidence that's been used to create it."

So, there you go if parents complain about their child gaming, as long as they're playing Assassin's Creed the child can say they're doing some history homework...

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