Game play of Civilization III is not intended to be a one or two period lesson.  It is an ongoing and evolving activity designed to reinforce contextual concepts introduced in class.  Game play will be conducted at least once a week at the conclusion of a daily lesson.  Time devoted to game play will vary from 15 minutes to possibly 30 minutes or longer depending on time available for any given class period.

     Game play will be used to reinforce or introduce specific objectives of the Standard Course of Study for United States History.  These objectives include, but are not limited to 1) Objective 1.03 - Assess commercial and diplomatic relationships with Great Britain, France, and other nations (conflict, trade, and diplomacy); Objective 2.01 - Analyze the effects of territorial expansion (Manifest Destiny); 3) Objective 6.01 - Examine factors that led to the United Sstates taking an increasingly active role in world affairs (imperialism); Objective 6.03 - Describe how the policies and actions of the United States Government impacted the affairs of other nations (intervention, conflict, imperialism); Objective 8.01 - Examine the reasons why the United States remained neutral at the beginning of World War I, but later became involved (neutrality, trade, conflict, militarism); and Objective 10.01 - Elaborate on the causes of World War II and reasons for United States entry into the war (aggression, dictatorship, authoritarianism, conflict, diplomacy, democracy.  Other concepts which will be addressed through game play include Civics Objective 1.02 - Trace and analyze the development of ideas about self-government in British North America (types of governments) as well as geography's influence upon city development, trade and defense. 

     Numerous 21st Century skills will be utilized throughout the extended game play.  Students will be forced to make complex choices, analyze and solve problems, be responsive to different ideas, work collaboratively, transfer learning from one domain to another, and  increase core knowledge in the Social Studies.

     Procedures:  Students will be taught how to play the game during an introductory session led by the teacher.  Students will also be introduced to the Data/Game Log Sheets they will use to record and analyze the game play of each game play session.  The Civilization III Log Sheet has four main parts: 

Starting and ending years; Events (things that occurred today); Big Ideas for the Day ( Built aCity, Improved a city, Acquired a skill, Trade, Built something in a city, Change in government,Change in city management, Acquired knowledge; Explored, Conflict, Discovery, and Concepts); Things you learned today  (What was the most important thing that happened? What was fun or not fun about playing the game? Would you have done anything differently? What plans do you have for your civilization? How did the game play relate to concepts discussed in class? What do you not understand or want to know more about? 

The game will be played as a whole class activity with students taking turns at the computer.  The game will be projected on an interactive whiteboard with a data projector.  As the game plays, tudents will discuss and provide suggestions to the individual game controller on decisions to be made or which actions to take.  At the conclusion of game play for the class period, students will complete their Civilization III log sheets and turn them into the teacher.  A teacher led discussion will follow each game play session as the students complete the log sheets.  A teacher led discussion will review previous game play prior to the start of a new session of game play.

Evaluation of student learning will consist of four parts:  1) the individual student log sheets which are maintained by the teacher in a binder for each student; 2) teacher led discussion of game play to determine if knowledge transfer has occurred; 3) a teacher observation journal containing entries for each session of game play, and 4) video recording of student interaction during game play.  All segments will be evaluated by the teacher to determine what, if any, knowledge transfer has occurredbetween game play and classroom instruction.