STC: Lesson Plan for Session #12

Objectives: The students will be able to:

·  Participate individually and as a group in a survival simulation game

·  Give one reason why team work can be more effective than individual

·  Play a computer simulation game on farming and then share one thing they learned about farming in Missouri

Materials:

1. Masking tape and permanent marker for name tags 2. Copies of Survival in the Desert simulation game and pencils, 3. chart paper and markers, 2. Student folders, 3. SimFarm (a computer simulation game).

Procedure:

1. Warm-up activity (Computer lab): Teacher greets students at the door and asks them to each sit by a computer. Teacher says: You have a problem to solve. Your plane crashed in the Sonora Desert (a desert in the southwest U.S. and northern Mexico). I want you to know the terrain by doing a Google search. See what images you can find of the Sonora dessert. While students work, the teacher circulates. Teacher might ask: What did you find? How is it like you expected? How is it different?

As a transition to the simulation game, the teacher says: The airplane is taking off, climb aboard. We are going to the community room.

2. Survival Simulation (Community room:) Teacher passes out copies of the survival game. Teacher asks the students to complete the survival activity on their own. Teacher then puts the children in groups of 3 or 4 to complete the activity. Teacher passes out copies of the answer sheet and then goes over the answers with the class. Teacher then asks:

·  Did you survive?

·  What percentage did you get right? (How did you do?)

·  Which occasion did you work better, on you own or with a team?

3. Simfarm – a computer simulation game (lab): Teacher says:

·  Based on Dr. Kyle’s presentation, how did the people in South Africa that he worked with get their food needs met?

·  We have a lot of farming here in Missouri and Illinois. But our farming looks different. How is it different?

(Amoako & Narishkin 2006)

·  Today we’re going try farming, in the manner which it is done in Missouri and Illinois. We’re going to farm on a computer simulation game called Simfarm. Once we learn about what it’s like to farm here in the U.S., we will try it in Africa.

·  Teacher instructs students to work in pairs to try to run a farm starting with $40,000.

·  Teacher circulates while pairs work. Teacher may ask: What are the challenges of being a farmer?

4.) Summarize (lab):

·  Teacher asks the group: How is farming different or the same from the way you expected? Ask each child to share one idea before leaving.

(Amoako & Narishkin 2006)