Local and Global Connections . SimCityEdu

The students have begun to make contributions to the blog by assuming the role of "scribes" (as described in Alan November's "Digital Learning Farm.") The student or students given that role for the day are asked to take notes about the activities in the classroom, provide a summary and interview students about the work. 

Eva and Henry served as Scribes while we worked on Footstep 5 for our Out of Eden Walk Learning Journey, summarized what various groups were working on and interviewed them during the process. Below are their thoughts as well as some photographs they took documenting the experience:

(Eva and Henry) The students in Chris’s class were split into groups and learned about something global that affected somewhere local. We are doing this to learn about how our actions can affect other people inside and outside of our community. We are also doing this to learn more about how other parts of the world have impacted us locally. We are watching videos and reading articles about the topic, then typing what the articles said in a Google Doc. The articles were about the Pacific Garbage Patch, EthioSkate, Skateistan, Beatmaking Lab, and the experiences of some Muslims in Europe. All of these have something in common which is that something starts out locally, then it affects the world globally and then it affects a certain place locally.

As a part of our exploration of "Cities" we have begun working with SimCityEdu, a version of the SimCity series of games geared specifically toward students. The students are given specific missions to complete which help highlight the various systems at play in a successful city. The first mission asked the students to increase the enrollment of students in the local school by increasing the number of bus stops in the city. They had to consider the location of the underserved population as well as the problems that arise with too few or too many stops.