Teachers Games For Change: Part 1

by Olga LaPlante

http://tinyurl.com/g4change2009

First Session

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• Opening Questions: Go to this blog and offer your responses.
  


1. What do students need to know about a community's energy needs?
   


2. If students were given control of energy policy, what might the outcome look like?
   


3. Briefly share one example of an activity you provide for students in which the student can quickly and easily try different scenarios to see results.
4. Check out students' responses on this blog.
   

Game: Energyville

http://www.willyoujoinus.com/energyville/

Objective of the game:

You will create a one paragraph energy proposal that highlights major choices in energy policy based on your experience in the simulation (post it here).

Questions to explore the game:

IMPORTANT: RECORD YOUR CHOICES AT EACH STEP!!! You will need that record to make conclusions about effectiveness of your choices.

You may wish to use a record sheet like this one for data collection.

After your first attempt, you may wish to try one of these challenges:

1. start through level one with no renewable energies. How long and what challenges are faced in introducing renewable energies into your city? Can it get totally renewable over time?
   


2. assume only green through level one, is it possible to replace the greens with conventional sources and have the city successful? Does green mean expensive?
   


3. ***Additional reading and discussion***:
   

http://www.izzit.org/events/ce_article.php?ID=919

Extension ideas back in the classroom/community:

1. CFL video
2. Ideas and FAQ:

1. For this particular activity, it's important to have an engaging conversation with students. What are some of the things that seem unrealistic in this simulation? What are the assumptions that have been made and can we change them? What are the things that might be biased? What do we need to know to really affect energy policies and landscape?
   
2. The hypothetical city in the simulation lacks lots of background information. To take this project to a more tangible level with real data on alternative energy sources to model events in a particular location, try this additional information. Energy Unit [requires MyWorld GIS, available on MLTI laptops; can be purchased or downloaded as trial for 45 days, which may be sufficient for one project without a license.]
   

Link to Part 2

Want to take a course? Check it out!
The Game is On, Course Facilitator Olga LaPlante


Intro Video: If books came after games

Presenters:

Ed Latham

ohgeer@gmail.com

Olga LaPlante

olga.laplante@gmail.com