Pedagogy and Teaching with Games
On July 15, 2022, I published an article for the Early American Studies Miscellany, an organization bringing early America into the present. I talk about how I use a 1770 board game with students in my U.S. history classes to have conversations about context and perspective.
My students learn some of the same things from it—though from a different perspective—including what the world looked like then; the products produced by different colonies and nations around the world; and major historical events—from earthquakes to rebellions—during the eighteenth century (which are chronicled in the game). In addition, it also teaches how people traveled, as it tracks actual sailing routes around the world, and perhaps most importantly, it shows the power and arrogance of the elite within the British empire.