WATERGAME! The Value of Games within a Pedagogy of Active Learning - Some Games Teach Us -Really! Bryan Mundell, Miljenko Mervic, and Joe Sepe According to an ancient Chinese proverb, "we see and forget, we hear and remember, we do and understand." Traditional pedagogies that put students in the role of passive recipients of knowledge lead some to boredom, psychological withdrawal, or resistance to learning. Active pedagogies that make students the protagonists involve their hearts as well as heads in the learning process, encouraging them to take responsibility and pride in their own learning. Humans of all ages learn a lot when we play games. Because we do not know the outcome of the game in advance, our natural curiosity is stimulated by dramatic tension. Our competitive instincts motivate us to learn the best strategies and tactics in order to perform well in the game. If the game contains didactic materials, players are motivated to learn more than is necessary to pass the exam. Game players also learn valuable social and communication skills – e.g., learning how to win and lose gracefully. Some games are structured to teach co-operation and altruism. Put this thought process to work on present needs, and we may save the planet. And so, we have Watergame. OVERVIEW OF WATERGAME Watergame is designed to provide an entertaining context for elementary school kids (3rd, 4th, and 5th graders) to learn water conservation. The objective of this half-hour game is to inform students about the importance of modifying their behavior to conserve fresh water, in order to ensure that there is enough of it for everyone. The game includes concepts, facts, and behaviors that kids can follow in order to conserve water at home and school. As kids play the game, they are sensitized to the importance of developing good daily water conservation habits. Kids who play the game tend to pass on their good water conservation habits to their siblings, friends, and parents. This is the ultimate proof of the social value of Watergame. The game board consists of a river valley, and players take turns rolling a die and floating down the river, landing on the green fish or red sponges. Green fish teach kids about behaviors that save water and red sponges teach kids about behaviors that waste water. To win, players must save the most water and waste the least, thereby filling their individual reservoirs. However, if one or more players finish their trip down the river with less than ten gallons of water, nobody wins. So, there is an incentive to contribute to the community water jug, from which thirsty players may draw. DIDACTIC MATERIAL ENCLOSED WITH THE GAME: The supplemental guidebook – for teachers or parents -- starts from the U.S. National Science Education Standards, explaining how the game and the supplemental exercises included can be used to help students to achieve the learning goals in those standards. The guidebook contains a narrative, statistical information about water sources, water pollution, and water usage throughout the world. Several loose-leaf diagrams are provided so that teachers can project them or photocopy them for students. These diagrams show the water cycle, how water filters through the earth, how water becomes polluted, and the amount of household water used every year by, for example, the average American and Indian family. SUMMARY OF GAME RULES: Players start at the source of the river and finish at its mouth. To advance, players take turns rolling the die and moving their token down the river the appropriate number of spaces. When a player lands on a space, s/he must draw the next card of the same color and read it aloud, following the instructions to adjust her/his water reservoir indicator on the edge of the board. Some cards require the player to answer the next question card from that deck and force the player's token to move forward or backward depending on whether or not s/he answers correctly. There is also a big jug printed on the board with numbers on it. This represents the community water jug, and the level is indicated by the neutral-colored token. Players may donate water to the community water jug in their turn, moving its indicator up and their personal water reservoir indicator down the same amount. If a player starts a turn with less than ten gallons of water s/he can draw a limited amount of water from the community water jug. The game ends when everyone arrives at the river mouth, with water bonuses for players arriving first. If someone ends with less than ten gallons of water, then everyone loses. If everyone has at least ten gallons at the end, then the player with the most water wins. The community’s value in the end result is important to what the players learn. OPTIONAL RULES: For slightly older children, the game can be made richer and more educational by requiring the person who draws a card to ask all the other players how often they do what is indicated on it, indicating the number of points earned by each player on a pad. For ladders, three points for always, two points for often, one point for sometimes, and zero points for never. At the end of the game, points are tallied and the biggest and smallest users of water in real life are celebrated and teased, respectively!   GAME COMPONENTS Game box Game board (made of Kenaf, a tree-free heavy-duty paper). Two decks of cards. Each green card contains an example of a behavior that conserves freshwater, whereas each red card contains an example of a behavior that wastes or pollutes water. An example of a conserving behavior might be: Report leaky faucet promptly to school authorities. An example of a wasting behavior might be: Wash hands with faucet turned on at full blast. One deck of question cards based on the National Science Education Curriculum Standards. Four colored animal-shaped wooden movement tokens and four wooden matching-colored square water reservoir indicators. One wooden indicator for level of water in the community water jug. One wooden die. A supplemental guidebook for teachers Several loose-leaf sheets containing supplemental didactic materials in the form of diagrams A questionnaire soliciting feedback on how to improve the game. ADVENTERRA GAMES, srl "Instilling passion for the environment, one gamer at a time!" Bryan Mundell, Founder & CEO La Fagiana, 13, 22060 Carimate Como Italy +39-335-820-3859 mobile tel +39-031-792122 fax +39-031-790419 tel Email: : bryan.mundell@adventerragames.com Website: www.adventerragames.com # # #