Dave McDivitt

Day 2.  Kids now understand how to play.  They understand how to operate through the game.  They understand how the features of the game work.  Here is a list of positives I have seen

1. Termonology is being used in class and in the halls.  I hear kids asking each other things like “how about a non-agression pact?”  I like hearing that.
2. Geography is being picked up.  Kids are looking for Tunisia.  That was the big one today.  In their search of the map for Tunisia they are getting a better concept of European/African/Med. Sea geography.
3. Difficulties of leadership are now starting to be understood.  Kids are picking up on the idea that what is good for the goose is not always good for the gander.  Helping out unemployed of France may make them happier but it upsets other population groups.  The fact that a decision may have more than one outcome that can be equally good as it is as bad is a new realization for a 16 year old.
4. Terminology is very important with in the game.  For example, rural leadership is “furious” with your government and plotting a coup.  “Furious” causes actions by most of my students.  I have to make these people happy—-what can I do?
5. Turn by turn rotation of the mouse has been good.  Every turn of the game a new team member gets the mouse.  This gives them ultimate power in their country.  This shared leadership keeps students interested and into the game.
6. Muzzy Lane provides a strategy guide for the game as a downloadable document on making-history.com  I ran off one for each country.  Some students use it, others don’t.  But you know who does read it……….girls.  Stereotypical, you be the judge?  But girls seem to be much more interested in reading the document than guys do.  Guys click around and manipulate the game until they find what they want. Girls seem to want to read how to fix something and then go fix it.

 Tomorrow will bring the onset of war.  Like I posted earlier.  Sophomores are not patient…………Germany has prepared herself to take the Sudetenland by force.  Diplomacy is for the unprepared…..Germany will invade.  That is the attitude.  I can’t wait to see what happens.

This is an interesting thing.  When my classes Beta tested Making History for Muzzy Lane last year the beta version had a line for money in the bank for a country.  I think through all of their testing they decided that with the money being visable on the main play screen that too many kids were focusing on money issues for their country.  Therefore, Muzzy Lane took the money line off the screen.  Well, after two days of playing it is amazing to me how many groups are overly concerned about the money.  Kids have clicked around and experiemented while they are playing and found the information about how much their individual countries are in debt.  My number one question today probably dealt with “how do I fix this problem Mr. McDivitt?” 

 Already we have been having some good discussion during game play.  Issues of how difficult it is to run a country.  Issues of you make one group happy by let’s say raising taxes and another group gets angry.  One thing is for certain after two days of game play.  Kids love it……..oh and they have no patience!