Unit 2: A Look at Specialty Games

Unit Overview and Learning Objectives

This unit show you the variety of games that are available and how to evaluate and select appropriate ones for their purposes. In the last unit, the learning objective was to take games we knew and see what subjects and level of students they would work with. This unit's learning objective is to take specific subjects and levels of students and see what games would work well with them.

You will need to complete all of the assignments listed below before you should move on to the next unit.

Preparation

Your preparatory task is to play another game that they have played before. The only restrictions this time are that it should be a game that you have played before, and can not be the game you played for Unit 1. Further suggestions are tic-tac-toe, Uno, Life, or Clue.

Lecture

If you have not been very involved in a games community, then you might think that there are rather limited options of board games that are available. However, that is simply not true. There are far more types and varieties of games - board games, dice games, card games, etc - than you would think just when browsing your local store. You may think that there is probably only a few games that are applicable in a fine arts class, or even in a physical fitness class. However, there is likely far more variety and availability than you can imagine. We are going to work on exploring some of that variety in this unit.

There are two websites that will be particularly useful for these purposes. The first is the GVLibraries.org games library which is an excellent database of games that can be sorted by grade level and subject. It also includes useful information about each game such as a brief description, amount of time to play, number of players, and a pdf of the rules. The other site is Board Game Geek. The importance of this site comes from the user reviews. A game may align perfectly with your class, subject, time allotment, and be age appropriate, but if it is not fun, then it simply won't be effective in the classroom. The site may seem a little overwhelming, but apend a few minutes looking around and create a user account with Board Game Geek. You'll need both of the sites mentions for the Activities portion of this module.

Discussion

Think and reflect on the game that you played in preparation for this unit. What knowledge and/or skills were necessary to play it successfully, no matter how basic it might seem? Maybe be as generic as pattern recognition, arithmetic, fine motor skills or as specific as geography of Europe, creative writing, or human anatomy.

Write a discussion post that provides a brief description of the game, and discusses which knowledge and skills are needed to play it. Make sure to provide direct explanations of which game mechanics or what content leads direct to what skill or area of knowledge.

Also, post your lesson plan from Unit 1's Activity.

Read your classmate's posts. Would you implement their games into a lesson plan differently? Do their games (from both the preparatory assignment and the lesson plan) use or teach other skills/knowledge better? Do you agree with their assessment of which game mechanic/content leads to what skills? Respond to at least two other classmates.

Activities

Complete the following activities:

1. Explore the Educational Games Library (http://www.gvlibraries.org/gaming/search)
2. Use the library to develop a list of at least fifteen games they would like to use in their classroom. Ideally these games will be in your classes subject area and grade level. If those games are not sufficient or satisfactory, then you can expand the criteria.
   
3. Explore the Board Game Geek website (boardgamegeek.com). Explore what it has to offer including discussion pages like [this one on language learning.
4. Use the site to evaluate which games on their list (from Unit 1)
5. You have the option to remove up to five games from your list based on these reviews
6. Rank the list in your order of preference
7. Write a review in BGG, of the game they played in the beginning of this lesson, geared towards educators who may want to use this game in their classroom
   

Optional Further Activities - explore these sites:
* More than Fun and Games: Nancy's Picks
* Games in Schools and Libraries podcast
* Play Play Learn

Bringing it all Together

Create a lesson plan or classroom activity using this game

Continue on to Unit 3: Customizing Games

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