Spotlight:The Grain Game

GK-12 fellows Sara Metcalf and Rob Whiting spent this past summer creating the Grain Game, a unique activity modeled on a section from the book Nature’s Metropolis:Chicago and the Great West, by William Cronon. Loosely structured like Monopoly, the Grain Game explores a simplified simulation of a market system. The idea started last summer at a GK-12 planning meeting and blossomed throughout the fall, culminating with a timeline presented by Sara at the November GK-12 meeting in Hinsdale, Illinois.

The main focus is on Midwestern economic transformation, placing students in a position to make decisions about what form of transportation is most beneficial for their own situation. The game shows students how large an effect like transportation could make in the lives of farmers, and also highlights the aggregate effects of individual decisions. The game is intended to reflect the historical actuallity of more people using railroads rather than water and more money going through Chicago rather than St. Louis.

The Grain Game has been played in both Central and Centennial High Schools; Centennial was first, last fall, and this spring the game debuted in Central. Played in 5 classes, between 90 and 100 students had the chance to take a roll. The game worked best in the accelerated class at Central, but also worked well in other classes.

To facilitate game-play, Sara created an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of data and perform calculations. She ran the spreadsheet in the classroom and referred to it as “the bank.” While this system worked for most situations, it became clear that automating the game using a computer would be beneficial, since when it works well, it is hard for just one person running the spreadsheet to keep up.

By MELANIE MUDARTH
©2005 UIUC GK-12 Newsletter
4/16/05

GK-12 fellows Rob Whiting, Sara Metcalf, and Mary Joy Carnate run the Grain Game.

Software Spotlight: Macromedia Flash

GK-12 Fellow Mohan Karulkar uses Macromedia Flash to construct a variety of visualizations, games, and activities for his 10th-grade Chemistry students at Hinsdale South in Darien, IL. They can be seen at http://mogk12.2ya.com A free demo of Macromedia Flash can be obtained from http://www.macromedia.com

To Page 1
To Page 3