Embodiments of the present invention comprise an interactive educational environment including educational games deployed in a computing environment, where the games provide a life-like simulation of a concept about which a student has recently been instructed. The games provide different scenarios and the tools that would be utilized in the real-world situation, allowing the user to make life-like decisions without the real-world risk associated with the decisions. The educational games may be adaptable to a particular student such that the games reinforce teaching and learning in a way that is suitable and most effective to the particular student. Learning may be reinforced by the use of a morale indicator that is configured to indicate the overall morale resulting from a particular user's decision. The educational games may be configured to reside in an overall approach to teaching and learning that comprises sets of central and peripheral nodes, where each peripheral node becomes the central node for a subsequent set of peripheral nodes.