Social Sciences

3rd World Farmer

This simulation game allows students to discover what it is like (sort of) to be a 3rd world farmer. Most students will not have any concept of subsistence farming (farming enough solely to live on). The students will quickly discover what is necessary to live and how to farm in order to have enough money to stay healthy. I started by only planting corn and wheat. However, when I started to plant a lot of corn, there was a drought that year which killed all of my crops! These are the things students have to realize. Just because crops are planted does not automatically mean there is profit made. Also, you are able to click on the different family members to check on their health. It is important that they get the food and medicine that they need to survive. I think this would be a great simulation game to play when learning about subsistence farming.

Nation States

Nation States is a game where you can create your very own nation to guide or rule over. You get to give it a name, a flag, a motto, and assign a certain people group to live in it. You can create laws to be passed, create endorsements, create alliances with other nations, and even construct embassies! The best part about this game is that students get to be apart of a much larger group of game players. While online, you can see hundreds of other nations that have been created and observe the things they are doing in their country. It is an interesting concept for a game that allows students to recognize how a nation is run on a much grander scale than they are used to seeing.