Contemporary Social Studies

Project Lesson Plan

The Political Machine Lesson Plan

Grade Levels: 9, 10,
11, 12

Subject(s):

Civics and Economics

Duration: 43-minute class period

Description: This class simulation spotlights the Electoral College
Process and the power of money and special-interest groups in Presidential
Campaigns. The activity is designed to add technology to the classroom, in
order to reinforce what has already been taught. This is designed to serve as a review before
a test and/or quiz.

Students will learn

Goals:

To enhance students'
knowledge of the Presidential Election Process.

To engage students in an
interactive simulation analyzing the Electoral Process.

To inform students about
Special-Interest Groups and Campaign Fundraising.

NCSCOS- Civics and Economics:

4.01 Examine the structure and organization of political
parties.
4.02 Describe the election process and the qualifications
and procedures for voting.
4.03 Analyze information on political issues and
candidates seeking political office.
4.04 Demonstrate active methods of promoting and
inhibiting change through political action.

Objectives: Students will be able to:

Locate states within the United
States.

Recall political demographics
of the states, during the simulation.

Use Electoral College map to
identify key ?battleground? states, during the simulation.

Formulate creative strategies
for obtaining at least 270 Electoral votes.

Relate other students? political
strategy, and compare how much money was spent in the campaign.

Materials:

LCD Projector

Laptop Computer

Copies of the Electoral
College Map (Each Student)

Procedure:

As the simulation begins, students will serve as the political strategists for
their presidential candidate. Therefore,
they will decide which states to visit, where to build campaign headquarters,
how much money to spend and fundraise, and which talk show invitations to
accept. In addition to these duties,
they will also decide where to purchase campaign advertisements.

Assessment: I plan to examine
students' contribution throughout the simulation. Students write a reflection about
the election results of the simulation. In addition to this paper, students
will be asked to complete a 10 question quiz on the U.S. Presidential Election
Process.

Posted by ltwhites ( Nov 05 2007, 11:44:16 PM EST ) Permalink Comments [0]

Contemporary Teaching in Social Studies Project

Ayiti: The Cost of Life Lesson Plan

Description:
Ayiti: The Cost of Life is a role-playing video game in which the player assumes the roles of family members living in rural Haiti. At the start of the game, the player chooses a primary goal for his/her family: achieve education, make money, stay healthy, or maintain happiness. During the course of the game, the player encounters unexpected events and must make decisions that contribute to or detract from achieving the chosen goal. The game takes about 25 minutes to play, so students will be encouraged to play multiple times. At the end of the game, students will take an online quiz to help them reflect upon what they learned during game play. After students have played the game they will discuss their experiences with the class.

Lesson Outline:

Day 1: I will provide some background information about Haiti. I will also show the students the basics of game play using an LCD projector.

Day 2: Students will play Ayiti in the computer lab.

Day 3: Classroom discussion about their experiences playing Ayiti.

Objectives:

Students will be able to:
? Use an online game to understand conditions in developing nations (specifically in contemporary Haiti) and how poverty is an obstacle to education. (NC Competency Goal 5).
? Develop problem-solving, critical thinking and life skills such as resource management, budgeting, and planning for the future. (NC Competency Goal 6).

Tools & Materials:
? Computers with Internet access

? Ayiti: The Cost of Life. URL www.costoflife.org

? Map of Haiti (I will also use Google Map to show the topographical difference between Haiti and the Dominican Republic)

21st Century Skills:

? Critical Thinking & Systems Thinking (Exercising sound reasoning in understanding and making complex choices, understanding the interconnections among systems.)
? Global awareness
? Problem identification, formulation and solution (Ability to frame, analyze and solve problems.)
? Social Responsibility (Acting responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind; demonstrating ethical behavior in personal, workplace and community contexts.)

Discussion Questions:

1. What was it like playing the game?

2. What was the game about and how would you describe it to a friend?

3. Which primary objective did you select, and why?

4. What types of decisions did you have to make about the family members while

playing the game and trying to achieve your objective?

5. What strategies did you use? For example, did you combine work and school, or

did you send everyone to work? Which worked? Which did not?

6. Why would parents choose to devote so much effort to sending their children

to school?

7. How many of you were able to keep the children in school?

8. What obstacles did you face in trying to keep them in school?

9. How do the situations and options in the game compare with those in your own

community?

10. Why might access to education be a challenge in another country?

11. What factors would make it easier for the children in the game to gain access to

education? What conditions could be changed and how?

Posted by tsrhue ( Nov 04 2007, 11:38:23 AM EST ) Permalink Comments [0]

Contemporary Teaching in Social Studies Project

My contemporary teaching in social studies lesson will be used with my third grade students. We will use Google Earth to research environmental issues located in different regions in the world. Students will locate different places and observe how different communities around the world are making a difference to help the environment. This activity will take place on Nov. 14-15. The lesson will last for approximately 45 minutes each day.

Posted by crcantel ( Oct 30 2007, 10:18:21 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

My Project Plan for Contemporary Teaching Project

My plan for the contemporary teaching project is to an activity on Ancient Rome. It would involve the students to use Google Earth and get a visual on modern day Rome and its physical features. The students would then choose one or two physical land features and use their knowledge of social studies and apply this to how such land features would have influenced Ancient Rome. Their presenation should be no more than two pages and the format is to be left open. This way the students have the flexibilty to present as they see most fit and creative. I would they use outlines, charts, etc. I will be presenting this idea with a sample outline and make some friendly suggestions. This will give the students a spring board to jump off of. The students will be 8th graders and I will be making initial contact with the school on Nov 7.

Posted by mjcrotea ( Oct 30 2007, 07:18:51 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Plan for Contemporary Teaching Project

For my project I plan to teach my 6th grade students about poverty in third world countries by using the video game Ayiti: The Cost of Life. I plan on introducing the lesson to them on Friday, November 16. The students will play the game in our computer lab on Monday the 19th and I will wrap up the lesson on Tuesday the 20th.

Posted by tsrhue ( Oct 30 2007, 05:30:08 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Project Plan

I plan on using the Political Maching Simulation game. This game will be used in a 9th grade Civics and Economics course. I will be using a laptop and an LCD projector. On November 28th or November 30th, students will obtain a review of the Electoral College and the Presidential Election process.

Posted by ltwhites ( Oct 29 2007, 07:57:46 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

A. Long Project Information

I plan to study Google Earth.

Grade Level- 9th Grade (could be altered for higher grades)
Subject- World History, Social Studies
Activity- 30-45Min, Investigation & Exploration using Google Earth Map &
Tools.

Posted by amlong3 ( Oct 27 2007, 05:36:22 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Climate Change Game Name- Climate Challenge Company- BBC Stated educational use- Global Climate Change Target age for use- Middle and High School Cost- Free Platform- web-based Game structure and teaching- The goal of this game is to provide students with the knowledge to make a decision on the issue of global climate change. This is a subject that is currently being debated in the political arena. Some direct curricular-related educational aims could include- understanding the subject of climate change, learn how to examine the research and science of global climate change, and evaluate possible solutions for this issue. I think that this game should be used in a civics and economics course or a geography course. Students would learn how human activity not only has an impact on the environment of their country, but it could impact the entire global community. Some informal learning activities could be presented by allowing students to have the opportunity to debate each other, after this activity. In my opinion, this would allow students to voice their opinions and support them with evidence from their research. The 21st century teaching and learning aims that would be covered by this game would include- information and communication skills, thinking and problem-solving skills, and creativity and intellectual curiosity. Game Play- This game is easy to assess, you can go to the BBC website and play the game. First, you will select a player. Your goal is to lower carbon dioxide emissions, since you are president of a European nation. There are five areas which are; national, trade, industry, local, and household. Under the national section, the player can introduce a new fuel tax, privatize electricity, and plant small forests. Next, you can examine the trade section. According to this area, you can send foreign aid. The industry area has the following options- subsidize aviation, switch from coal to gas, and promote industrial energy efficiency. The local section allows the player to improve building regulations, build more roads, invest in water infrastructure, promote cooperative wind farms, and build affordable housing. And the household section allows the player to promote recycling. Each of the subsections provides the player with the positive and negative public opinion on these issues. So, this game challenges the players? decision making skills as well. Game Critique- This game really does not teach students about the subject of global climate change. Instead, it should be used as a tool that would reinforce a lecture of a video on the subject. I think that this game is perfect for a geography course, due to the global impact of climate change. The game is free, so you would not have to worry about purchasing the software. Also, you could implement this game in a computer lab, since students could access this via the Internet. Posted by ltwhites ( Oct 01 2007, 02:32:55 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Stop Disasters Game Review Stop Disasters is a simulation based game created by the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and the Playerthree Company. This game is available online for free, but requires the use of the most to date version of Flash Player 7 or higher. It is a single player game where the goal is to try to prevent many natural disasters include earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes and wildfires that effect different areas around the world. Each of these five scenarios take approximately 20 minutes to play, and the games can be played on easy, medium, and hard difficulty levels. The game was designed for the interest of children between the ages of 9-16, but it is suitable for all ages because of the educational content. There is no distinct end of the game so it can be played indefinitely, but the end could be considered when each of the five scenarios has been successfully completed on each of the three difficulty levels. One of the unique characteristics of Stop Disasters is since it is on online based game the web site will save your best scores, and it allows you to play against people all over the world. Stop Disasters has a lot of educational value that it can offer to anyone who plays the game. The basic goal of the game is to protect the area from the natural disaster. This can be done by providing the locals with evacuation instructions, education, shelter, hospitals, and certain defenses against the storm. This has to be done while operating within the $35,000 budget. In the game you not only have to protect the area from the storm, but to also develop the area to meet the basic needs of the locals. In the online game I played I had to protect South East Asia from a tsunami. The objectives were to build 2 schools, 3 hotels and a hospital while still providing defense mechanisms. When you make a good move the computer prompts you with key facts which give you tips as you progress within the 15 minutes before the storm began. During the game you are in charge of providing the area with as much protection as you can provide. This includes developing the area with houses made of sticks, concrete, wood, and bricks while still reaching the games objectives. Therefore, the ability to learn how to budget is the key point of the game. I believe that this game would be very beneficial for an economics, science, or a social studies lesson that deals with natural disasters. It really provides a lot of insight on to the natural disaster that are prone to certain areas, and the defenses that can be used in order to help prevent as much damage as possible. These defenses include upgrading the existing facilities such as the community center, placing seismic sensors in the ocean, filling the water with mangrove bushes and breakwaters. Then on land you can build sand dunes and palm trees on the beach while putting trees inland. It is really geographically correct because you can only put certain types of vegetation in certain areas. Both developing and defenses options are allotted a dollar amount, and come out of that $35,000 beginning budget. Therefore, this game really provides a lot of importance on budgeting by determining which action is most appropriate for your budget. This game is great to meet the 21st century skills of critical thinking and problem solving in order to help students become more interested in the business community. As I played the game I realized that this would be an appropriate game to play with a class of economics, science, or social studies students. Since it was developed by the ISDR the game is educationally based, but I believe that it would be appropriate for the classroom. The game is not too difficult to play, but it is rather difficult to learn how to successful play each level. At the end of each of the scenarios it provides you with a detail about the amount the damages of the storm. These facts are presented as if the media is reporting on the storm because it looks like it is the cover of the news paper. It provides the amount of the storms damages, the total number of deaths, the amount injured, and then how successful you were based on a monetary amount. Then it determines if you failed or passes your mission in order to move to the next scenario. This was a very fun and challenging game to play especially because you can determine which difficulty level you would like to play. I don?t believe that students would have a lot of difficulty learning how to play the game, but it can become very frustrating putting that much time into the game to only realize you failed your mission. Therefore, I believe that I would recommend this game for any middle or high school economics, science or social studies classroom. It really does a good job providing information on geography, natural disasters, budgeting, and many other facts that can be used for educational purposes. This is a real user friendly game because it gives a lot of key facts and is very simple format that makes the game easy to understand. Therefore, I believe that Stop Disasters is a game that can provide a lot of educational value to many different classrooms. Posted by klmaxwe2 ( Oct 01 2007, 07:46:15 AM EDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings Review The Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings is a ?real-time strategy computer game? developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game is a software-based game, but I played a free trial version available at www.microsoft.com/games/pc/age2gold.aspx. The game is rated T for teen, so the target age is about 13 years of age and up. In this game, the player controls a society and helps this society develop through four ages (Dark Ages, Feudal Age, Castle Age, and the Renaissance). The game begins in the Dark Ages. The player controls a village with one building and four villagers. The player assigns the villagers tasks such as cutting wood, gathering food, or mining for gold. When the community obtains a certain amount of food and houses, the player can create more villagers. These new citizens are then assigned tasks to contribute to the development of the village. Later, villagers can be trained as militia and barracks and advanced weapons can be developed. The village can be randomly attacked by outside forces, or the game player can choose to attack other communities. The game also has five campaigns to play, all of which reflect an event in history. These campaigns allow the player to start with a range of existing resources (food, gold, wood, stone) already in place, which is nice because building a nation from scratch is a tedious and time consuming process. The five campaigns are William Wallace (a tutorial campaign), Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Kahn, and Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa I. The purpose of this game is entertainment, but it can be used to teach individuals the factors that lead to the development of civilizations: resources, trade, alliances, agriculture, weapons, etc. Also, players learn the history surrounding the characters in the five campaigns - Joan of Arc, Saladin, Genghis Kahn, etc. The game connects with several NC Standard Course of Study competency goals such as: evaluating the ways people make decisions about the allocation and use of economic resources; assessing the influence and contributions of individuals and cultural groups; examining the development and use of tools and technologies and assess their influence on the human ability to use, modify, or adapt to their environment; and identifying the main commodities of trade for the different regions. This game also achieves some of the 21st century learning aims, such as Emphasize Core Subjects (ancient civilizations and their beliefs) and the Teach and Learn 21st Century Content (economic literacy). The trial version only allowed me to play the William Wallace campaign or a randomly assigned non-campaign game. I played the William Wallace campaign to learn the basics of the game (it is the tutorial campaign). Game play took several hours. In essence, all I did was gather resources, construct buildings, train militia, and explore the surrounding landscape. I was attacked several times by English troops, but successfully defeated them. Eventually, I developed my community enough to advance from the Dark Age to the Feudal Age. I am not sure how the game ends. I assume it ends when the player successfully completes all the campaigns. This game can be used for middle and high school students. If I used this game as part of a lesson, I would have students play it at home (maybe a particular campaign) and then discuss game play in class. This game takes some time to play so I?m not sure if the time invested playing it during class would be a worthwhile investment. This game does have some positive aspects though. The game gets players to think about factors that contribute to the development of a society. Throughout the game, you are constantly making sure your characters have enough food, money, and resources in order to continue play. Also, students learn historical facts about the central campaign characters and the lives they led. Posted by tsrhue ( Sep 30 2007, 07:31:08 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

virtual village Virtual Village is a downloadable real-time simulation game for Windows. It was developed by a company called Last Day of Work. The game can be played by all age-levels. It was developed more for the primary grades, but middle school students can benefit from the game as well. The player has to care and nurture a tribe of people by teaching them survival skills. The player teaches and trains the villagers to research scientific advancements and how to repopulate a strong village. The object of the game is to develop a thriving village. You start with untrained villagers. The player is in control of developing the villagers into farmers, builders, researchers, and parents. The game includes a tutorial guide, which provides advice on how to make wise decisions. After you choose the skills and placement of each villager, they are left alone to independently perform their tasks. Each time you play you?ll witness the fruits of labor. You can give the villagers directions and check up on their progress in restructuring the village. The strategy comes from the decision in how many villagers you assign to tasks and how you choose to advance their skills. The player also has to decide on how to effectively spend money. You can spend money on food, technology, tools, etc. The player obtains tech points, which can be used to upgrade the populations building skills, and farming abilities. The player must manage which abilities should get upgraded first and how to develop those skills. Throughout the game, the player is faced with puzzles to solve, which help you to accumulate tech points. I found Virtual Village to be interesting because it provides the player with a balance of playing a fun game that involves strategy and critical thinking. The game includes many educational purposes. The player needs to make critical decisions based on the survival of other people. The player has to manage a diverse group of people and consider their strengths and weaknesses when allocating tasks. The dynamics of the game, allow the player to gain an emotional attachment to the villagers because the player is made to wonder how their villagers are doing. This game provides content that is related to the third grade social studies curriculum. One of the objectives is for students to investigate the roles of families, work places, and communities. Students are also required to observe how community?s change over a period of time, which is a skill involved in the game. Some drawbacks of the game include, the progression of how the game is played, In the beginning, the player is making numerous decisions to make sure that the villagers are doing their job to keep the village thriving. After you have reached a certain point in the game, it?s safe to leave the people alone for days at a time. In order, to see the progression of the village, you have to play numerous times, which could potentially be a drawback if being used in a classroom. Posted by crcantel ( Sep 30 2007, 07:01:35 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Dafur is Dying Game Name- Darfur is Dying Company that makes the game- MTV Stated educational uses- Target age for use- 11th and 12th Graders Cost- Free Platform- web-based http://www.darfurisdying.com/ Game Structure and teaching- The purpose of this game is to bring about awareness to the genocide that is taking place in Darfur. In addition to the game, it has links to humanitarian and human rights? organizations websites. This game would be ideal for a current events course, sociology, geography, or a modern African studies course. The indirect educational aims are those that would allow the students to obtain knowledge about other nations and the United Nations. This game could let students brainstorm solutions to this issue. If they were President of the U.S. how would they go about solving this horrific event? Would they use other African nations, or the U.N.? With these educational aims, I would use this game for eleventh and twelfth graders. In my opinion, they would be able to comprehend this issue and would have the best solutions for such a mature topic. If you students play this game, they could go out and discuss this issue with other students, family members, and members in the community. The class discussion on this topic has the possibilities of go beyond the community. In my opinion, this game achieves the following 21st century teaching and learning aims- Communication skills Critical thinking and systems thinking, Problem identification, Formulation, and solution, Creativity and intellectual curiosity, Interpersonal and collaborative skills. Game Play- The game begins with the player having to make a difficult decision as to who in the family will forage for water. Each person brings a different dynamic to the game. Most of the people will get captured and detained in the camp. It is up to the player to assist their individual in surviving through the camp. You have to run through the desert, in order to find water for the camp. You have to hide from the militia as they comb through the desert. I was unable to make it to the end of the game. So, I would recommend this game for sociology, international politics, geography, and current events courses. Game Critique- I think that this game really does not address a lot of the objectives in the North Carolina Standard Course of Study. Instead, it will allow students to gain a better understanding of how world events, such as the genocide will have on other nations. I allotted thirty minutes for this game, and I was unable to finish it, so that is somewhat of a deterrent for using it in a classroom. The potential downsides of the game would include the time allotted for the game and being a one-player game could pose an issue. For instance, if the computer lab in your school were not available, then students would not have the opportunity to play the game. During my student teaching experience, I encountered how the digital divide could pose a problem for Internet homework assignments, so I am very conscious of this issue when I planned my units. Posted by ltwhites ( Sep 24 2007, 02:11:56 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Stop Disasters Game Review Game Review 2 Game Information: ? Name : Stop Disasters ? Source of Game: International Strategy for Disaster Reduction ? Educational Uses: Stop Disasters, a game that targets 9-16 year olds educates players on how to best deal and prepare for disasters. A player must create a safe environment in order to protect their population from hazards caused by the disaster. ? Cost: Free online game ? Platform: Web-based Game Structure and Teaching: The purpose of this game was educational. A player had to build a base understanding of geography, economics, construction, and risk assessment. A class for example could use this game as a part of learning in middle or high school about natural disasters in America?s history like Hurricane Katrina, San Francisco earthquakes, and the Chicago fires. Students would then understand the importance of building infrastructure and defenses in hazardous environments. A player must continually assess the situation by making sure all of the people and buildings are protected. Students must critically think about where their resources would best be allocated under a certain budget. Game Play: The game unfolds by beginning with the choosing between five different scenarios which consisted of tsunami, hurricane, earthquake, flood, and wild fire. Each scenario then lists where each disaster is located and the nature of the terrain. For example, I chose for the first round the tsunami disaster which was located in Southeast Asia whose terrain was a coastal village. A player then chooses the degree of difficulty based on the map size. A mission introduction begins the game by telling a player what their stated objectives are in order to minimize the damages to the small fishing village. The challenge was to accommodate 320 people, build a hospital and a school and add two hotels to increase tourism in the area. A player is given a budget of $50,000 and 20 minutes to work with before the tsunami hits. During my game play, for my defenses, I built mainly natural barriers such as sand dunes, trees, and mangroves and provided a warning system. I succeed in the game?s objectives by putting into place a hotel, community center, school, and hospital. The hospital was destroyed during the tsunami so on my next game play I would strategically place the hospital further away and surround it with more defenses. The game rates a player at the end by producing a newspaper article about the job the player had done during the crisis and then a report of how many people had died and what buildings were destroyed, ultimately a statement of objectives completed or failed. Game Critique: The limitations to the game are that students could be more interested in building defenses and not concentrating on the outcomes of their decisions. Knowing where each defense should be placed was difficult although there were prompts during the game telling a player the advantages and disadvantages of using each defense. Each scenario is played within a time span of twenty minutes and thus there are no real non-monetary costs associated with the game. The game sends a positive message of the importance of communities to invest in disaster prevention. During game play, I turned down a complaint by a tourist wanting to build a hotel on the edge of the water. People should take more precautions in building in disaster prone areas although a hotel on the water would make more money and draw in more tourists, there has to be a point where safety is a priority. The potential downsides of this game are that students might not be able to relate disaster prevention and assessment. What practical knowledge would they be taking away from the game? Social concerns like caring for the poor, sick, and old during the disaster were ignored and there were also no contingency plans if a certain defense failed. Posted by rsbumgar ( Sep 24 2007, 12:28:48 AM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Review of Jamestown Adventure The Jamestown Online adventure is a free web based game that can be played at www.historyglobe.com/jamestown. The purpose of the game is to make the player feel what it was like to set off from England to try and establish the first permanent English colony in the New World. The game places you in Jamestown in the year 1607. The player is the captain of the colony and is faced with difficult decisions to make that will affect the colonists and settlers. The decisions are based on health issues, morals, gold, and food. You can compare your decision with the decisions made by the real colonists of Jamestown. Jamestown Online has many educational purposes. The game allows you to take the role of colonists and experience the difficult decisions that were made based on the desire to establish the first colony. The player has to make decisions that would allow them to succeed, yet could potentially harm the indigenous people. As you play the game, you are also learning about the geography, culture, and physical features of Jamestown. The player is able to compare and contrast their decisions with the real early colonial settlements. You can ask fellow colonists and the Native Americans for advice. However, the player has to decide whether the advice is useful and consistent with the values and views of the player. After you have made all of your decisions, you receive a report that evaluates how well you established your colony. The criteria is based on how well you provided food for the colonists, how healthy you kept the colonists, how much wealth you gained and the morale and happiness of the colonists. After you receive your score, you get to compare your colony to the historical Jamestown at the end. This allows the player to learn from their mistakes and to have the opportunity to improve in their decision-making skills. All of these educational purposes tie in well with the objectives associated with learning in a 21st century. Although this game is very educational, there are a few limitations. I feel that the game excludes many of the critical decisions that both the colonists and Native Americans faced. This could lead the player to believe that the decisions were more simplistic than they actually were. Also, in order for a student to benefit from the game, there must be a solid foundation of the history and the lifestyles of both the colonists and Native Americans. Posted by crcantel ( Sep 23 2007, 08:32:23 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Go West Across America with Lewis and Clark Go West Across America with Lewis and Clark is an online game that can be found on the website: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/features/97/west/main.html . This game was developed by National Geographic Kids along with the help of Electravison in 1999. The game and its artwork is based around the book, How We Crossed the West: The Adventures of Lewis and Clark written by Rosalyn Schanzer , and published by the National Geographic Society in 1997. The purpose of the game is for educational use either at home or in the classroom to help students understand the importance of the expedition and the Northwest Passage. On average the game would be most useful in late elementary to middle school classrooms. I would implement the game in an eight grade social studies classroom in meet the NC Standard Course of Study competency goal 3.08 to examine the impact of national events such as the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the War with Mexico, and the California Gold Rush, and technological advances on North Carolina. The game would really help students develop their critical thinking skills, basic understanding of the importance of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and even helps develop decision making skills. This game does meet the 21st century skills of teaching and learning by the use of critical thinking and problem solving skills. Go West Across America with Lewis and Clark would be a fun game to play after the material was already taught to try to elaborate on the information the students had already learned. The game is played as if you are one of the expedition leaders working beside Meriwether Lewis and William Clark as you help making decisions in order to be successful on reaching the west coast. The game beings as you head out on your journey from St. Louis on request from President Thomas Jefferson to find a route to the western North America. As you play the game it becomes clear that the goal is to find a trade route to the west and a Northwest Passage which would be a water route between the east and west coast. Once you begin your journey you are prompted with questions that will affect your passage to the west. The way you answer these questions determines how successful you are and how efficient your trip would be. Throughout the game you are prompted with ?did you know facts? which are random bits of information about the original expedition to try to help explain exactly what happened. Also, there is an icon ?journal? which gives small segments of letters written by discussing their progress. When you are asked a question it gives you a couple of possible answers and you answer them as you feel is appropriate. Then the game gives you rational as to why your answer was correct or not. Throughout the game you have to answer questions about ?Which direction to go??, or how would you handle certain situations concerning your crews health, safety, and or the native Indians you encounter. As you progress through the game you are making decisions based on the facts you already know about the expedition, the facts that are given, and the situations you are faced with. The game also provides historical facts about the mission, very in-depth dates to events that occurred, and even used maps to chart your progress to see where your trip lead you after you were done with your game. Then once you answer all of the questions the game is over when you successful accomplish your mission. I felt that the game was limited in regards to curriculum because it really only is appropriate when dealing with Lewis and Clark expeditions and the Northwest Passage. It is also a game that played mostly for fun but if played more than one or two times would definitely become boring and wouldn?t hold the students attention. The associated cost of playing the game would mainly be the time that was taken to play the game. Although it was really easy to play and it didn?t require a lot of patience to learn the rules or the I really liked how it gave students the opportunity to be able to see a picture of the people involved in the expedition and the use of the map after your game is finished. I really enjoyed how user friendly the game was and found that it would be appropriate for children of all ages. Therefore, I would recommend the game Go West Across America with Lewis and Clark. This game was really fun because it really helped me use my critical thinking and decision making skills. I also found that the way I thought about priorities now were completely different from those of 1804. I answered questions the way I would today, but this wasn?t appropriate. For example, I chose to bring two years worth of food on the journey over books to write in. I thought food was an important survival tool, but actually the computer felt paper was more practical because it was easier to carry and they had no room for refrigeration in 1804. Therefore, I would recommend this game to be played in a middle school social studies classroom in order to help students elaborate on what they have already learned. Posted by klmaxwe2 ( Sep 23 2007, 06:31:29 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Age of Mythology The Age of Mythology is a ?real-time strategy computer game? developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game is a software-based game, but I played a free trial version available at www.ageofmythology.com. The game is rated T for teen, so the target age is about 13 years of age and up. There are two ways to play the Age of Mythology. First, a player can pick an individual in a certain region and tries to advance in the game. The player advances by building towns, gathering resources (such as gold, food, wood, etc.), creating and training armies, developing alliances, and ultimately conquering other towns and civilizations in the game. There are three major civilizations in the game: the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Norse. Each civilization has three major gods that can assist players: Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades for the Greeks; Odin, Thor, and Loki for the Norse; and Ra, Isis, and Set for the Egyptians. These gods help players by granting them gifts or special powers to aid the players or damage opponents. Players can earn these ?favors? from the gods by building temples and monuments, praying, or by acting heroically. Throughout the game, there are opposing towns and mythical creatures that the player and his army must defeat to continue on with the game. The second way to play the Age of Mythology is by playing a campaign. The player assumes the role of an Atlantean named Arkantos, who must travel to the three civilizations in order to find and kill a Cyclops who has turned Poseidon against Atlantis. By killing the Cyclops, Arkantos wins favor with Poseidon and Atlantis is saved. The game ends when this campaign is complete. Even if Arkantos is killed during the game, he can be resurrected if his army and allies can complete the separate tasks that they have been assigned to accomplish for a particular period of play. The purpose of this game is really entertainment, but it can be used to teach individuals the factors that lead to the development of civilizations: resources, trade, alliances, agriculture, weapons, etc. This game is less historically accurate than other similar games such as Age of Empire, Rise of Nations, and Civilization. There is a strong mythological element to this game, but this element can teach players about the religion and stories of Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, and the Norse. This game can be used for middle and high school students, but teachers should be careful that students get the ?correct lessons? from the game. The teacher needs to draw a distinction between what is realistic (factors of development, terrain and the environment of the games regions, weapons and tools used, etc.) and the unrealistic (Atlantis, mythological gods, the different time periods that each civilization exited, etc.). This game also takes a long time to play, so I would be hesitant about assigning this for students to play, even at home. The game connects with several NC Standard Course of Study competency goals such as: evaluating the ways people make decisions about the allocation and use of economic resources; examining the development and use of tools and technologies and assess their influence on the human ability to use, modify, or adapt to their environment; and identifying the main commodities of trade for the different regions. This game also achieves some of the 21st century learning aims, such as Emphasize Core Subjects (ancient civilizations and their beliefs) and the Teach and Learn 21st Century Content (economic literacy) I played this game for several hours and had little success in any aspect of the game. I could not figure out how to train my troops, mine gold (even though I discovered a mine), build alliances or trade with other towns. I was able to kill several enemies and creatures that I encountered, though. If I bought the game, there might have been instructions explaining how to accomplish these tasks. I am sure I would have eventually figured out what to do, but I didn?t feel like staying up all night playing this game. Posted by tsrhue ( Sep 23 2007, 10:14:34 AM EDT ) Permalink Comments [1]

The Political Machine Review

Game Review Project- Review #1

The social studies related educational game that I own is called, The Political Machine. I purchased this game, prior to the 2004 Presidential Election. You can locate the game on the following website- http://www.politicalmachine.com/game.aspx .

Game Information-

Name- The Political Machine

Company- Published by UBISOFT

Developed by Stardock

Educational Uses- Is an ideal game for a Civics and Economics course.

Target age for use- High School

Cost- CD-Rom $19.95

Platform- Web-based and software-based

Game Structure and teaching-

In my opinion, the purpose of this game is to present the political and educational foundations of the Electoral College and special-interest groups in the Presidential Election cycle.

According to the North Carolina Standard Course of Study, this game would meet the following objectives-

Competency Goal 4- The learner will explore active roles as a citizen at the local, state, and national levels of government.

Objectives

4.01 Examine the structure and organization of political parties.

4.02 Describe the election process and the qualifications and procedures for voting.

4.03 Analyze information on political issues and candidates seeking political office.

4.04 Demonstrate active methods of promoting and inhibiting change through political action.

4.06 Describe the benefits of civic participation.

4.08 Participate in civic life, politics, and /or government.

The indirect educational aims would include the opportunity for students to visibly seek the impact that special-interest groups and money have on our political system. In addition to this, many students may be inspired to get involved in local, state, and possibly national campaigns and elections.

I would use this game to explain the Electoral College, special-interest groups, political issues, political parties, and the election process. This game would have to be used in Civics and Economics. This game is a one player, so I would probably run the simulation, and divide the classroom into two groups. Each group would represent a party and candidate. As I simulate the game, student could instruct me to move their candidate to a certain state, for fundraising, advertisements, speeches, and/or build a new campaign headquarters. Not only will students represent a candidate, but they could also become political strategists.

This game achieves the following 21^st century teaching and learning aims- Information and Media Literacy Skills, Thinking & Problem-Solving Skills, and Civic Literacy.

Game Play-

The goal of the game is to make sure that your candidate wins at minimum 270 electoral votes on Election Day. There are options to play against the computer or multiplayer through an online version of the game. Candidates will have to fly from state to state, fundraising, building campaign headquarters, and advertising in key states

Game Critique-

The game could confuse students, but it is important to teach the Electoral College and campaign process/structure, prior to the game. This should not be used as a substitute for teaching the material; instead, it should be used to reinforce the material that you have already taught your students. Teachers should allot at least 40 minutes for the simulation. There are 42 weeks of campaigning, and you have to simulate through those weeks and explain certain aspects of the game to your students. This turns somewhat of a boring topic in Civics into a visual game, which will assist students with the comprehension of the Electoral College.

Posted by ltwhites ( Sep 17 2007, 01:35:37 AM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Democracy game review

Democracy: The Ultimate Political Strategy Game was developed by Positech Games in 2005. The game would be useful in a history, economics, or political science classrooms. Positech games did not intend the game to be ?educational software? but rather it is build around true facts and political agendas that could be used as a tool to help people understand political, economical, and governmental issues. The target audience for this game would be high school and above. The game could be used in high school and college class rooms in order to help them better understand concepts such as GPD, national debt, manifesto, and political representations. Currently, Democracy is available for an on-line download on both Windows PC and Mac systems. The full game is available for download for $22.95, but the company does allow you to download a free demo of the game with limited access for free. Democracy is a web-based game that can be found at www.democracygame.com.

Democracy is a complex situational game that prides itself on creating a modern economical and political system. The company tried to fashion the game around popular games such as Sim City 4 and Civilization. They put more emphasis on creating a true depiction of modern countries and events that spur political debate. The game is played from the perspective that you have just been elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom for a four year term. You have to implement new policies and laws in order to gain or lose your popularity. The success of your game is measured in your ability to make your voters happy, because they are proportionally represented in categories such as conservatives, liberals, poor, commuters, educated, smokers, drinkers, etc. This gives you a fairly good idea of how the population is broken down and shows your popularity with each group, and you can right click on any specific group to find out how they feel on issues to increase their support. The major categories that are used to implement new policies are taxes, economy, foreign policy, welfare, public service, law and order, and transportation. While at the top of your screen other factors to keep into account are the countries lifespan, crime rate, literacy rate, poverty, unemployment, GPD, etc. Once you decide on which group you want to work for you can right click again to choose to view the polls, new policies, available cash, game options, and take your next turn. The full game is a single player game that can be played indefinitely since there is no term limit. Since the game is based on your political popularity if you lose enough of your political control you have to use the next turn option. The decisions you make are ranked as political awareness and the object is to reach certain goals such as powerhouse economy, crime free utopia, environmental paradise, and the ultimate goal is to achieve a perfect society. As you advance towards meeting these goals you are given a quarterly report each time you have to take a ?next turn? option which is three months of your four year term. Therefore, if you choose to take another turn your power is not limited again until you make another decision that isn?t widely accepted.

The game is a political game that could really help people understand the basic political principles. I believe that Democracy could be related to US History Standard Course of Study Competency Goal 8.06 that analyzing the meaning of ?civilization? in different times and places, and demonstrate how such meanings relate to societies of which they are apart. This game really helps to teach students the basic principles of political systems, and how they operate. I would teach with this game in US History to show students what concepts must be taken into account when politicians make the decisions they do. Since the full game has 11 different democratic countries would also help students to recognize and understand governmental differences throughout the world. Democracy achieves the 21^st century teaching and learning by promoting students to use their thinking and problem-solving skills. It also deals with the economy so students would benefit in the professional business environment with this knowledge they could learn from playing this game.

I believe that the game is limited in regards to the curriculum because it only gives specific countries and options that can be used. The game can be modified, but that is far too complex to be taken into the classroom. I also believe that the game is very costly in the time it takes to play the game. It is kind of complex so it takes time learning how to play the game, to learn the different options, and then to actually teach my students to play the game. I also believe that another cost of this game would be more focus on playing the game rather than implementing what the game is teaching. The uses of this game are limited in the classroom so it would be very costly to try to find new ways to implement it in the classroom other than political structure. I believe that the games culture context is not limited, because the culture would depend on the country that you are ruling over in the game. It gives you facts about the country, and gives you various quotes from famous historical people throughout the game. Also, I believe the biggest negative with playing this game is that it is very complex. I think that my students may get bored with the process because it is so difficult, and they may get easily frustrated. Therefore, I would recommend implementing Democracy into the classroom to help explain the concepts of democracy or to explain the differences in democratic systems throughout the world.

Posted by klmaxwe2 ( Sep 16 2007, 05:00:25 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]

Welcome to Ayiti: The Cost of Life game review

Welcome to Ayiti: The Cost of Life is a free web-based game (www.costlife.org) created by high school students and game developers from GameLab. The target age of this game is about 10 years of age and up.

The player of this game makes life decisions for a Haitian family of five: what jobs to work at; should the kids go to school; what products to buy at the store; etc. Your goal is to keep the family alive for four years, while maintaining their health and happiness. You achieve this by making sure that the family earns enough money to buy food and to pay for medicine or hospital visits if family members get sick; by keeping the family members happy (participating in celebrations and buying presents); and by ensuring that family members get enough rest. A secondary goal is to get the children educated. Characters with some education can get higher paying jobs in the game.

The game takes place over a four-year span, divided into sixteen seasons. At the beginning of each season, you assign a role to each family member ? work (you have several job choices), school, or laboring on the family farm. During the season, the five family members perform their assigned roles. At the end of each season, you can reassign family members different roles, depending on the family situation (money, health, food, happiness). Situations occur throughout the game which affects the family?s fortune: Good or bad farming seasons; hurricanes destroying the family home; family members getting sick; and accidents happening at work. The game ends when the sixteen seasons are completed or when both parents die.

The purpose of this game is to teach people about the choices families in lesser-developed countries have to make in order to survive. In the United States, it is expected for children to attend school until they graduate from high school. In lesser-developed nations like Haiti, the opportunity cost of going to school is high. Kids are often needed to work in order to help supplement their family?s income. The game connects with several NC Standard Course of Study competency goals such as evaluating the ways people make decisions about the allocation and use of economic resources and recognizing the relationship between economic activity and the quality of life in different regions. This game also achieves some of the 21^st century learning aims, specifically the Teach and Learn 21^st Century Content. This game promotes global awareness and financial and economic literacy.

I played this game several times and, with the exception of one game, the entire family died before the sixteen seasons were over. In one game, the mother was the only family member who survived, but she was sick with cholera and was in debt. In the first game I played, I tried to get the kids an education early. Since the kids were not working and school cost money, the family incurred a large debt which I was unable to get them out of. The situation was made worse when a hurricane came through and destroyed the family home. Sickness, starvation, and death soon followed. The family didn?t last through one year.

I think this is a pretty good game for use in a social studies class. The length of game play, if you make it to the end of the sixteen seasons, is only about 20 minutes long. It requires some strategic thinking to be successful at it (which I haven?t been). The game also familiarizes students with the limited life choices of families in lesser-developed countries. Finally, the game is free, which teachers love. I don?t see a downside to this game.

Posted by tsrhue ( Sep 16 2007, 02:06:17 PM EDT ) Permalink Comments [0]