Want to help your students or children connect better to the world around them? Trying to engage in conversations about culture, politics or economics with youth? Games are a great place to start. When learning new things we try to make on of 3 types of connections: text-to-text, text-to-self, or text-to-world. Like books and movies, games can serve as a text. In this article, we look at how 3 games will help you relate your experience with games to event and concepts.
Tokaido is an enjoyable board game in which you travel along
an imaginary road. To me it invokes thought of the Silk Road and trade and
exploration in Asia. This game can help students connect to other cultures in a
more concrete way. As they make their way along the road they have to make
decisions about trading, visiting at temples, and eating. Their choices lead to
varying levels of success. The more balance they find in their choices of
activities the more success they find in the game. This game provides a point
of comparison for the culture you enjoy and others you study. Help others
discover the components of culture and make comparisons between what they live
or have studied and what happens in the game.
Carcassonne is game that provides you with an opportunity to
understand geography and development. In
the original Carcassonne you experience
growth and development in the French countryside. In New World Carcassonne, you
help to colonize the east coast of the
New World. This game combines an understanding of geography and economic
decision-making to develop successful settlement. Learn what makes some places
successful and others die. Connect the action to local events in your part of
the world or teach students about the transformative nature of development in
the past. These games reminded me of
lessons teaching how the development of infrastructure like the transcontinental
railroad and the interstate system changed the development patterns of cities
and states leading some to growth in some areas and decline in others. Topics I have taught in both geography and
history classes. Want to spice up your classroom or help your child connect to their
history class? This is the game for you.
The Presidential Gme is a great way to explore the Electoral
College and the electoral process. this game you have to use strategy to
compete for vote to win the presidency. You learn to make choice about what
states you work in and what states you do less work in . You gain votes and
lose votes . When playing we quickly came into direct competition in large
states like Texas and California. This game would help provide people with
insight into the decisions candidates make as they run for President. This game could be played in small groups or
tracked over time with small groups of students acting as competing political parties.
No matter how you play or who you chose to play with it is time to run for
president. Will you be the winner?
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