+1 Charisma, +1 Wisdom if you say hello

Kris,
My name is Jeremy Nelson and I am new to this endeavor as well. So far, I feel like I am in a unique position compared to others on this site in that the games I have begun creating are educational based (although I have only met a few people so I may be stepping on toes, for which I sincerely apologize). I am an high school history, government, and economics teacher and I have created one game based on the Middle Ages and I am finishing up another one centered on micro-economic concepts. There are a handful of difficulties I am facing moving down this road:

1. I want these games to be educational, so I have to continually remind myself of that fact; there are a ridiculous amount of really good, really fun ideas, but I cannot stray so far into 'fun' and lose sight of the curriculum requirements that shape what I teach my students.

2. Thus, my administration casts a leery eye my way when I bring up gaming in my classroom. They think along the lines of Chutes and Ladders, or Risk, or Monopoly, not a game that is driven by content. I have essentially gone 'off the radar' and not really discussed my gaming endeavor with the curriculum so as to operate unencumbered. Despite their skepticism, they have been supportive.

3. Most of my board games are rather large. I want my students to be able to all gather around the board and all of them to touch game pieces; very cooperative in nature. For my classroom, this isn't too difficult as I have tables and chairs in my room and it is a quick rearrange to make a large board function. However, looking forward to publishing my game ideas, the size becomes a minor hurdle. The average classroom has desks and the average teacher does not have a great amount of space to store something of great size.

I hope this helps.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Kris,
I may be overly critical of my administration; they haven't put the hammer down or told me to stop with my curriculum conversion ideas. However, they, like most admins are steeped in the current educational models which are very strongly shaped by the standardized testing that takes place.

Thank you for the links that you shared. I did a quick 2-minute scan of the Quest to Learn school site and that looks very intriguing. I am also interested in reading that essay. Thanks again.

Cheers,
Jeremy

I just needed the WIS and CHA bump.

Kris,
I guess the ideal buyer of one of my educational board games would be other teachers. The biggest hurdle to that is the price tag; you hit the nail on the head with the limited budget realities. Teachers use games/simulations fairly often but most of those that I have used and found are free and require very limited resources and pieces and time to set up. And, most of those simulations last only 1-2 class periods at the most.

Since creating my Middle Ages game four years ago I have had the desire to market it in some way. Aside from the budget concerns, administrators and curriculum coordinators would be difficult to convince of the necessity of a large board game. In addition, schools are under increasing pressure to implement state education standards, which are geared towards standardized tests, which means very little room for something like a board game. In Minnesota, the good news is that there is not currently, nor are there plans for the near future, to have a state-wide social studies standardized test; but the standards do exists (they were just updated/revised two months ago) and schools are expected to utilize them.

Aside from that, board games in the classroom have the 'cultural lag' hurdle to overcome. "This is not how education in America works." In order to create some semblance of academia with my Middle Ages game, I use a pre-test and a post-test prior to and immediately after student play the game. That way I have a quantitative measure of student learning through playing the game in case any serious questions arise over what I am doing. But it is also important for me to know, as that is the purpose of the game: if my students are not learning much, or enough, through the gaming experience, then I need to revise and improve the game.

I don't see the Middle Ages game being axed from my world history curriculum any time soon, if for no other reason than it has taken on, dare I say, mythical proportions in my school. Upperclassmen have this vested interest in how their family performs in the game and younger students have heard about 'The Game' but have no idea what it is really about other than the constant buzz from the students that play it. The Fargo-Moorhead newspaper also did a large article on the game this past year when we played, complete with color photo and student interviews, firmly solidifying The Game as a constant in the 10th grade social studies curriculum.

I apologize if I rambled a bit much.

Cheers,
Jeremy

Kris,
Thank you for that reply. That story underscores why I as a teacher do what I do. That is a lofty goal: to get more out of students and athletes (I coach as well) than they feel they are capable of. But that is the goal. I appreciate the feedback!

Cheers,
Jeremy