1 Date: Period: Board Game Project World Studies, Absolutism through Democratic Revolutions Introduction to Assignment: In groups, you will be designing, creating and playing board games that demonstrate your knowledge and comprehension of the content up until this point in the school year. Goal of Game: Progress from an absolute monarchy to representational government. Thus, the start of your game should not be labeled merely as start and finish but should be something that demonstrates that you are moving away from absolutism, and towards greater representation in government. This goal should be should be obvious in your progress squares and roadblock squares. It should be clear in your rules of the game. Content Covered (Units 1 and 2): Absolutism The Enlightenment Government and Democracy American Revolution French Revolution Latin American Wars for Independence Background: Modern absolute monarchs developed in Europe between 1500 and 1800. These monarchs expected to maintain absolute control over their governments and citizens. An increasing number of citizens, however, disputed the ideas of absolutism. This eventually would lead to revolution. What better way to outline the changes from absolutism to sweeping political and social change than in the context of a board game! Essential Questions: 1. How might absolute monarchs influence change? 2. How do citizens bring about change? (THINK: Change can be positive or negative.) 3. What part did the Enlightenment play in creating new governments? 4. What makes revolutions successful or unsuccessful? Guidelines: BE CREATIVE! I do not want to tell you exactly how to create your game. However, there are certain aspects of the game that must be included. Keep in mind as you create the game, you want to demonstrate content knowledge and content comprehension. Also keep in mind what the goal of the game should be (above). o Colorful and crisp (It should look like a completed project. The whole game should have a finished quality if 25% of the board is colorful that doesn t count.) Outline your squares. Add a border to images you cut-and-paste onto your board. Use the space on your board. o Appropriate to the time periods (Use actual historical events / people in your game. Your grade will largely be based on showing that you know and understand the content of world studies.) This is a creative assignment, but it is not a fictitious activity. There are no dragons. There are no wizards. There is no magic.
o Dirctions (Create a fully developed direction sheet for the rules to your game (It might behoove you to look at directions to board games that you have at home or look some up online. It will not be obvious to your players what they need to do. Chances are that you directions sheet should be at least 250 words.) o Functional (Make sure your game is functional-- students in the class are going to play your game! * Total game playing time must be 20-30 minutes. Playing time will be a part of your grade. * It should be possible to WIN your game. (Yes. This has been a problem in the past.) * Everything you need to play should be provided. If it needs dice, there should be dice. o Historical Playing Pieces (Use AT LEAST 4 people who fought/argued against absolutism as characters or pawns this means that King Louis XVI is NOT someone you can use, because he didn t want to end absolutism or lose his head.) * Each character must be a workable game piece. * Each character must be clearly labeled with either their name or image. o (at least) 3 Road Blocks - These are obstacles to an a constitutional monarchy or democracy. They should be located, labeled and explained on the game board. (These must me physically located on the game board. They do not count as your road blocks or progresses if they are a part of your cards. They must be specific containing CONTENT related to world studies.)! EXAMPLE: Congress of Vienna Roadblock A meeting after the final defeat of Napoleon that was a win for conservatism. Move back three spaces. o (at least) 3 Examples of Progress - These are advancements, developments, or improvements to the ultimate goal of a constitutional monarchy. (These must me physically located on the game board. They do not count as your road blocks or progresses if they are a part of your cards. They must be specific containing CONTENT related to world studies.) HINT: Have someone with really night and small handwriting put these on your board. Go over them with sharpie.! EXAMPLE: Declaration of the Rights of Man Progress Document stated the natural rights of man. Move ahead two spaces. o (at least) 25 Chance Cards - Chance cards should be compiled giving players certain commands such as King dissolves Parliament, go back 3 spaces, or King works together well with Parliament, go forward 2 spaces. This is a great opportunity to get the following vocabulary words incorporated into your game. Use the chance cards as a demonstration of your understanding. HINT: Make 30 cards. Make 40. o THESE ARE MINIMUM! FEEL FREE TO EXPAND UPON THESE IDEAS! Terms: AT LEAST 30 TERMS FROM QUIZLET MUST BE USED IN YOUR GAME. This can be in chance cards, trivia cards, physically on your board, etc. Make sure the context of each word defines it. If you are unsure that you have included the context of the term, please cushion your grade by using more. If you attempt to use 50 words I almost certainly will give your credit for 30 of them. (And really, you have time to use more.) 2
Tips for Doing Well: 1. Make sure that every person has tasks that they need to accomplish each day. You should have NO downtime in-class. If you finish your tasks, help someone else. This is a team sport. 2. Print a bunch of pictures and bring more supplies than you think you will need. 3. Draws a sketch or several sketches of the game and DISCUSS it with other group members. In particular, make sure the person writing the directions is on the same page. 4. Sketch and have the layout of your board finished before the start of the second workday. 5. Write the progress squares and roadblock squares onto the board during the second day. 6. Put someone crafty in charge of making the game pieces. (They don t have to be artistic, just crafty.) 7. Set up an assembly line for making your trivia cards. 8. Use your Quizlets as a reference. 9. Don t put someone who is absent a lot in charge of your supplies especially the day/weekend before it is due. 10. Read the rubric. Re-read the rubric. Make sure you have completed everything on it. 11. Include the answers to your trivia cards somewhere (numbered sheet in case they are disputed, on the card because someone else in the game draws the card, etc.) 12. If you don t already have it exchange contact information. CHECKLISTS (Recommend to go through this together as a group before you begin working!): Board Checklist: Do you start at absolutism/absolute monarchy? Are there AT LEAST three roadblocks to representative government on the board that are labeled and explained? (different roadblocks) Are there AT LEAST three progresses towards representative government on the board that are labeled and explained? (different progresses) Is the ultimate goal to reach democracy/representative government? Is there a place on the board to put all of the chance cards? Is it possible to win? (There is not a place that you will always land and send you back to the beginning of the game yes, this has happened in the past.) Cards Checklist: Do you have some type of card that uses world studies vocabulary AND demonstrates that you know what the term means and how it relates to the goal of the game? (You can have trivia cards as well as chance cards, etc. and you can choose to give them creative names.) If you use trivia cards, is there a way that the players can look up the answers during the game. (Assume that people will argue and disagree over whether someone is correct or not.) Are all the cards decorated in the same way? (Does the deck match?) Players/Game Pieces: A MINIUM of 4 Characters Used in Game: (These should be actual people from history, such as the specific name of an Enlightenment thinker or a revolutionary person like Voltaire.) Are the pieces that players will use named after specific people? Can you tell who they are? Are they labeled? Are the specific people actually in favor of moving towards a more representative government? (They should not be named after a monarch they like monarchies.) Directions: Name of game? Names of group members? Goal? Game set up? Who goes first? Who goes next? How do you take a turn? Logistics? Winning? 3
4 GOALS and EXPECTATIONS: (ONE SHEET PER GROUP) Group Member Group Member First and Last First and Last Group Member First and Last Group Member First and Last General Tasks: Create a list of all of the things that this individual is responsible for doing. Be as specific as detailed as possible. You may have to add tasks as you go. Examples: - write chance cards in pencil - go over chance cards in Sharpie - print and color decorations for chance cards - cut-and-paste chance card backs to the actual cards - edit directions Self-Assigned Tasks to Go Above-and- Beyond: If you decide to create something extra, include this here. You can add to this at any time. If you are doing something to meet the MININUM requirements, it doesn t belong here.
Being Awesome: Decorate the board with impressive art. Not artistic? Print, color and paste amazing stuff onto your board. Outline it in sparkly puffy paint. Go nuts. Make your board 3-D. Make your board partially 3-D. (Rumor has it there is one made to open up like Jumanji what!? So cool.) Make a spinner instead using a dice. YouTube how. YouTube and Pinterest are your friends. Use a lot more of the content than is required. Use glitter. Maybe a trail of red glitter for blood dripping off a guillotine. Go nuts. Use some quotes for the Enlightenment or some puns in the design of your game. Write questions or chance cards in fun old-sounding English. HINT: It is better to do something simple that you can execute well. Don t get over-ambitious and make a hot-mess. Make it something that you can actually finish. IMPROVE over ADD: Before you add something additional to the game, attempt to make what you are doing already the best it can possibly be. Ask other group members if you can help them on something if you find that you have a little time left in class. Find tasks to keep you working. 5