Date: 1994

Grade Level(s): 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

Subject(s):

• Social Studies/Civics

Description: Nations are faced with numerous options when it comes the distribution of their limited resources which could lead to the successful development of their country. Those nations also experience events that can have a tremendous effect on their well-being. In this simulation, students will receive the opportunity to make decisions about allocating resources, witness the results of these decisions, and experience the unexpected in an ongoing simulation in which they attempt to develop the most successful nation.

Objectives:

1. Students will design a flag that represents their country's ideals and beliefs.
2. Students will appreciate the many difficult decisions faced by the leaders of nations.
3. Students will understand the importance of agriculture, industry, infrastructure, education, and various social issues to the well-being of a nation.
4. Students will learn to work as a team, developing, listening and reasoning skills along the way.
5. Students will examine the effect past decisions have had on the nation's success.
6. Students will be able to foresee future problems and developments and make decisions accordingly.
7. Students will appreciate how difficult it is for leaders to satisfy and improve conditions for as many citizens as possible.
8. Students will realize why some nations fail to develop and become successful nations.
9. Students will form beliefs and ideals regarding how a nation should be governed.
10. Students will evaluate the decisions that they made pertaining to the running of their country.

Materials:

• bulletin board
• markers/colored pencils
• overhead projector
• paper tacks
• pencils
• paper

Preparation for Simulation:

Students are to develop a name, a flag, and a chart to record events on for each of their countries involved in the simulation. They are to divide these responsibilities among the group. Students also need to make their initial selections as to what projects they choose to spend their limited resources on. After making their 8 choices from a list of 16 possibilities, they are required to provide a brief explanation for each option, either why they felt it was absolutely essential to be included or why it could be omitted.

[Author's Note: The 16 possibilities are determined by the teacher. The teacher should create a list of 16 projects that a country would spend money on, such as: building up a military, developing new methods of farming/equipment, education (training teachers), birth control programs, etc.]

Students' selections will be turned in and saved for future reference. The flag and the chart containing the name of the country will be tacked up on a bulletin board.

Weekly Events:

Once a week, or as often as desired, an overhead describing an event is shown on the screen. These events could include floods, war, discovery of a mineral resource, outbreak of disease, or many other types of situations. Countries will then gain or lose choices depending on their current list of programs they chose to implement. They may also remain the same. [Example: If a country decided to build up their military, and the event for the day was a war, then students would get an extra choice (9 out of 16) since the country had spent money to build up their military.]

The students record the day's event on their chart, reevaluate their choices, make a new set of selections, and then as a class, discuss the event,  how it could have been handled, and relate it to a real world situation where the event or one very similar actually occurred.

Assessment: Students are to keep a log or journal in which they write about what happened to their country. Finally, at the end of the simulation the students are to write a 1-2 page essay describing what the simulation was all about, what they learned from it, and how it relates to the real world.