Post Session Think Time:
1) What do you like or dislike about working as a team? What are the advantages / pitfalls of working as a team?
2) What did you learn about the possible factors that aided or hampered a city's development, the importance of the different parts of the economy?
3) Consider the possiblities and/ or limitations this game has for enhacing your understanding about a city or a country's development, the variations in development status within a country, the strategies that can be adopted and factors that could have caused these strategies not to work as well as anticipated.
4) Any other comments / feedback.
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22 comments:
1) More interaction. Not so lonely. *LOL*
2) Need more communication (not checking the chatbox regularly enough). Also need to strategise and discuss. I was too busy clicking away!
3) Teachers have to play the game a few times in order to come up with good reflection worksheets/ ask students to take note of certain the relationship between factors.
1)
- working in a team allows communication and brainstorming.
- an individual's decision could have an impact to the team's result. For example, if one leaves the room, the game cannot go on.
2)
- trading, whereby the government can sell off excess resources to the system and get more money.
- pollution generated, everyone has a part to play in order to alleviate the problems of pollution.
- no one is unnecessary; everyone's contribution is important to the development of a country no matter what role he or she plays.
3)it provides me with the understanding that technology, energy, and machinery are very important materials needed for development. also, everyone plays equal part in the development of a country.
1. Working as a team allows for interaction. Players have a better idea of who are the producers of particular ideas. More fun and interesting for the players.
2. Pollution, Literacy rates, global market.. Government has a huge role to play in the development of a city
3. The game does not allow for a further discovery of the social and cultural consequences of development.
1) Working as a team help to highlight the problems and anticipate problems that the group might be facing thus able to solve the problems quickly.
2) Government plays a key role in ensuring survival. Environmental management is also the key role for every participants.
3) It does help in understanding of a country's development, with the different variables included ... allows the teacher to inform the students the key areas needed for development especially if they are able to come with different scenarios when playing the game. However, if needs to introduce it to the students lots of intorductions and debriefing sessions have to be done before and after the games.
4) The teacher needs to be rather familiar with the game before actually letting the students play the game. I also feel that the students may find it difficult to comprehend the rationale of the game if they are playing it for the first time. But it is a fun an and an eye-opener for the students.
Farhanah (Bedok View)
(1)Like the group responsibility involved in succesfully completing the game.
(2) Importance of machinery and technology in progresing to the next stage. Need to manage resources as a group. Idea of social responsibility.
(3) Easy to get carried away about the game and forget the concepts of development. Teacher to reinforce concepts and establish connections for the students.
Simply playing the game is not enough, need to allow for discussion - to develop thought processes about development.
Radha
Marsiling Sec
1)Like:can work with others, tap on their strength. Help each other.
Dislike: Sometimes it's frustrating waiting for others to react, especially when their actions affect my results.
2) The government is the most important as he/she gets to control many things. How fast the city grows depends a lot on the government. However,the others also have a part to play. Many factors affect the growth of the city.
3) Even after playing it for 2 times, I still find parts of the game difficult to understand. Students need alot of time to play and understand. However, it is useful in illustrating the many complicated and complex process involved in development. This game is thus useful as a stimulus or ending to the chapter. Or we can even have a EcoCity Challenge. Students love competitions!
Ong Lay Kheng
Bedok View Sec
1)Working as a team increases motivation level and generates discussion and sharing of ideas.
2)Need for sustainable development, taking into account economic growth and its impact on the environment. Also, need for different sectors of the economy - primary, secondary and tertiary. Also imperative is the role that the government plays in overseeing development. Global trade is also highlighted.
3) I'm concerned that pupils may just click click click without being conscious and aware of what they are really doing in the larger scheme of development. There seems to be limited options for strategies of development, at least no considered by those playing the roles of retailers, farmers and manufacturers. Do they actively make decisions? Or are they passive receipients of the government's decisions. Do they see the roles they actively play in the country's development? How does one city actively get involved with other cities in this era where globalisation plays such a critical role in any country's development?
Land and water seems unlimited in this game. Shouldn't they be a major constraint in development?
Alvin Sim
Fairfield Methodist Sch (Secondary)
1. The chance to discuss and encourage one another to find a solution to a problem
2. Each and everyone has a role to play
3.
limitations will be when players are not clear on the objectives of the game or the roles you are to play; they may just want to "win" in the shortest possible time; missing out on the key learning points.
There maybe insufficient personnels to debrief or advise the teams if most need help at the same time.
1) What do you like or dislike about working as a team? What are the advantages / pitfalls of working as a team?
Working as a team makes playing the game more fun and interactive.
2) What did you learn about the possible factors that aided or hampered a city's development, the importance of the different parts of the economy?
The different sectors in the economy are dependent on one another to survive. If a sector is not doing it's job, it could have an impact on other sectors that would require the materials that it is producing. Also, the government plays a huge role in ensuring that things go smoothly (e.g. people are getting the education it needs, the goods are sold to help the people increase their income, etc)
3) Consider the possiblities and/ or limitations this game has for enhacing your understanding about a city or a country's development, the variations in development status within a country, the strategies that can be adopted and factors that could have caused these strategies not to work as well as anticipated.
One thing that struck me from this game was that the demise of the city is related to the inability of the different sectors in working together to meet each other's needs.
Additionally, the message that everyone has a role in sustaining the environment even when you're preoocupied with developing the country was highlighted in the game. If all the players did not consistently ensure they recycle their materials, then the whole city would face problems pertaining to pollution. This more or less mimics real life whereby environmental conservation (in the face of development) is everyone's responsibility.
4) Any other comments / feedback.
1)Some can get pretty competitive and aggressive.
Advantages:Fun, not so boring
2)We must learn to be cooperative. Some goods need to be produced for the country to develop.
Insufficient Schools and education facilities to produce highly skilled labour to bring the country to a higher level of developement.
3) Perhaps loans can also be included to show that there is an avenue to get help.
1. Working as a team definitely benefits in this game. It is crucial to communicate among each character so that resources could be effectively shared among them for the entire city to function well. However, players who are slower in their understanding of the game could hamper the progress of the team as time is spent explaining the rational behind how to better play the character to help the team build a city.
2. I've learnt that pollution hampers a city's development to a large extent because when there are too much waste, a lot of resources have to be channel to clear them up and this is not economically sound as these resources could have been put to better use if everyone has played their part in keeping pollution low.
3. Being too engrossed in the game might cause the player to neglect certain aspects of understanding. This is because only when the person has tried various characters, then he would be able to compare the roles of each character and hence process deeper thinking in the game.
1)some team members may be slower in catching up/producing outputs. However, working in teams help to clarify doubts. Allows more interaction among students.
2)That all parties must actively be involved in managing the economy in terms of pollutions, healthcare, education, food production, energy etc.
3)The games gives a general idea of why countries vary in terms of development status due to the roles that different parties play. It also informs about the different factors that affects sustainability in an economy.
- Kia Mien (Bukit View)
1.The members have to keep in constant touch with each other to produce what the country needs for it to progress. Some members may be slow in responding to the needs so the rate of development is slowed down.
2. while developing & producing the goods needed we have to be mindful of the pollution & keep in check. Hence the rate of development cannot be too fast.
3. The concept of an open economy can also be brought in, so the students can learn the importance of free trade in the world to encourage development.
4. The game is very engaging & the students can apply the concepts & see their effects on economic growth.
Christina
1) enjoyable working as a team. students will learn how to be a team player and learn to work cooperatively.
2) Need to trade to push the games to higher levels, then the other players such as the manufacturer and farmer would have greater options to manufacture (either capital-intensive or green technology)
3) Students must probably have a clear understanding on the various factors which can affect development, understand the interrelationship before they can appreciate the variations in development and why some strategies don't work.
1) Team members help one another to solve 'cashflow' problems when the lack of $$ arises. However, when team members dont communicate with each other, the situation in Ecocity gets chaotic.
2)City's development is dependent on the Government's initiatives and long-term planning. The city must also have abled thinking bodies who will support the government's initiatives.
3)likely scenario for the game to falter: Uncooperative and uncommunicative team players; uneven resource allocation;
3)
1)Working as a team enable you to get things done faster than having all roles played by just two persons or even individually if that is even possible for this team. Get to exchange ideas and alert one another on the need to develop certain items for the city to thrive.
2) What did you learn about the possible factors that aided or hampered a city's development, the importance of the different parts of the economy?
The interdependence of each role. Decision made by government to increase tax or build certain infrastructure will in turn affect the physical, social and economic factors. This in turn will influence what the manufacturer and farmer has to produce and what the retailer has to purchase.
3) The lack of understanding on the topic 'development' may impede effective learning of the topic from this software. I think frontal teaching still has to be done before getting the students to try out this game. Thus far, my students have shown great interest in the game especially those in the Normal Academic Stream. However, 2 periods to let them try this out is not enough. Debriefing may need to be done at the next lesson.
Hidayah/Broadrick
1)There is a need to be constantly on a lookout for each other. The team members are all inter-dependent.However, working as a team makes a certain project - this game more interesting as the players can be exposed to the different viewpoints of their team mates and to understand that everyone's priorities differ.
2)income of the city. the pollution level. trade in the external market and social factors like literacy rate etc.Also that the different industries are highly dependent on each other and that government's policies and infrastructure building can makeor break the city's development.
3) By taking playing each role, we can understand better how each stakeholder in the economy/country affects the development. However, the role of the stakeholder is not as comprehensive as that of the real world. Resources will run out e.g.land, in the real world that this will affect the development.However, land never seems to run out in this game.Natural disaster,etc.are all some of the other factors that will affect development which are not affected here. The game here shows more of the importance in the inter-relationship among the industries and stakeholders.
Bijun Fuhua Sec.
1)
Realisation of the fact that we have to rely on each other.
like the fact that we are not just interacting with the computer alone but also with humans.
Pitfalls - when students get so involved in the game that they end up being angry/ pushy with each other for not 'producing' enough
2)
pollution of the environment affects the country's development/ growth
the need to manage ur resources and not to hog resources - these impacts other players
Good Governance is important
3)
Students might need time to get used to the game before they can see the impacts and relationship that we want to draw out from the game.
possibility of comparing the scenerios that they have discovered to real life situations. If their progress is checked, they might even be able see if they can do a case study of a country that might have gone through the stage at which it did.
They might also talk about the strategies that they used - whether is will work or notin real life. If they deem the strategies useless, then the limitations of the strategies can be researched upon and discussed.
there is a need to still scaffold learning for the chapter on development either before or after the game is played
1) It is fun to have a chance to talk to one another on ways to make the city better. Working as a team also enables more ideas to be generated. The pitfall may be one person may dominate and instruct the other members of what he/she ought to do.
2)I learnt that many sectors are dependent on one another and they need to be well integrated for the city to be developed.
3) It helps to gel the ideas (about development) together and students will probably remember this topic on development through the gameplay better than the textbook way of learning about (despite reading through the textbook 100x in preparation for tests and exam). However, strategies that can be adopted to improve a country's level of development didn't come out very strongly in this game. Certain resources like land also seem unlimited, which does not reflect reality. Personally, I am also more interested about making the most revenue than looking at the development of the city in a holistic way. I guess the role given to me is also a factor as well.
Joyce Lim
Fuhua Secondary
(1)For this particular game, you just can't play alone. It will be no fun at all...
Advantages: Each takes a different role, and work together to develop their country. It reflects real life when and where everyone has their own responsibility to build the nation.
Pitfall:
(2) Environmental factors, education level, medical facilities, amount of energy, technology and machinary produced will hamper the growth.
Every factor matters.
(3)Limitations of the Game: Certain terms / Key concept in their syllabus document could be builtin. Eg. HDI, Core-periphery concept.
Other factors to consider- BR, Life expectancy, sanitation.
Will be good to craft this game to be as close to their syllabus as possible. It will not just be a game on development, but it helps students to better learn concept.
Could even tag the definition of key concept in the game.
Opps it got lost..
1) THis definitely helped for a first timer like me with all the support
2) Importance of sustainability
3) Unless I play the role of the government, I would not get the big picture on development
4) THis is a shorter version because I lost the fist posting. Apologies
Michele
PHS
1) In such a gaming situation, I believe it would be alot more helpful to have a online chat function so that team members can exchange info or maybe see the allied forces' screen? so that we can co-ordinate better.
2) inter-dependence...can operate in silos
3) + points: what could have caused certain outcomes, e.g. fall in population (despite 100% health & literacy, and clean and seems rich...), so it definitely would us thinking... but as for the students, I believe a debrief, as suggested by trainer, is necessary to explicitly make them more aware of the factors influencing devt and the consequences involved.
limitations: so busy playing not much time to really think... i played role of manufacturer.. i only remember i kept clicking... haha... so i guess to ensure that learning takes place... teacher must help to consolidate tt learning with help of debrief or a worksheet...
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