I love "Who is Winning the Cold War," but in the past, it has taken my students far longer to do the research and they often don't have enough of a schema to separate good sources from bad or to properly evaluate what should be considered a "win" or "loss." Inspired by the It's About Time game developed by the Bill of Rights institute, I turned the events into cards with little blurbs. I just intro'd it with my tenth graders and it went really well.
The Pro's:
- Shortened the activity from four class periods to one and a half.
- Really high student engagement, even the ones who are typically checked out.
- High quality discussion between students around events.
- Lots of opportunities to interact with students, challenge their thinking, or correct misconceptions.
- Fun.
The Con's:
- Eliminating the research portion reduces opportunities for disagreements/discussions.
- Shortened descriptions reflect my biases (although I have done my best to minimize them).
- Accessibility issues for visually impaired students, students with certain learning disabilities, and English language learners.
- Difficult to adapt and differentiate the game portion.
- Easy for disengaged students to go unnoticed.
I'm including a zip file of my materials, with four pictures removed because I didn't have the rights to distribute them. I have included an editable publisher version of the cards, an easy-to-print pdf, and my class slides.
