Colonizing our Classroom

This year in Social Studies, the students will be learning about our country’s history.  This includes how our land was colonized and how we gained our independence from  Great Britain.  To kick off the year, the students will participate in a simulation of the discovery of America.  They will embark on an adventure in which they are recreating the settlement of our country.  The students will get to experience some of the difficulties and excitement that the American colonists encountered.  

The students were broken into groups, or colonies, that they will be working with throughout the unit.  They will be expected to work together as a team to make crucial decisions about their colony: where to settle, what to bring, and how to best defend their colony, among others.  The  ultimate goal for the students is to create a colony that thrives in the New World.  By doing so, the students will learn just how difficult it was for American colonists to begin their “new” life.

One of the first activities that the students participated in was a survey about situations that the colonists faced.  They used prior knowledge and reasoning skills to make their decisions.  As a team the students used the cooperative learning structure Spend a Buck to agree upon their answers.  They were each given ten “dollars” to spend however they’d like on each possible choice.  Each colonial group then ranked their answers based on the amount of “money” each choice received.  This structure ensured that each colonists’ ideas were equally taken.

This was just the first of many decisions that the colonists will have to make.  Together, they will work to increase their colony’s wealth and defense against other colonies.