Sim City and Gr 6 Social Studies

Sim City and Local Government
Grade Six social studies
ReferencesGovernment of Alberta. (2007) Social Studies Grade Six. Retrieved September 29, 2007 from http://ednet.edc.gov.ab.ca/k_12/curriculum/bySubject/social/elemsoc.pdf

Government of Alberta. (2007) General Outcome C6. Retrieved September 29, 2007 from
http://www.education.gov.ab.ca/ict/outcomes/

Sim City. (2007) Sim City instructions. Retrieved September 29, 2007 from http://simcity.ea.com/play/classic_instructions.php

Brief description of activity.
Students will do a search on what is Sim City. They will take that information and simulate a sim city where the students make decisions in a group of three or four, as to how the community will be run on the Sim city program I will provide. The students will have a week to run their simulations and record their findings. After the week, the students will prepare a power point presentation answering the following questions.
a) What is the Sims or Sim City?
b) How there city developed (overall stable growth)?
c) What were the major setbacks and how did you react to these situations?
d) What were the major roles of the citizens in the community in how well it functioned?
e) What level of government was used in the first two days of the week? four days? final seven?
f) How did u feel controlling the city and how does that relate to local government agencies and the decisions they make on a daily basis?
g) What did u learn the most from this activity, comments etc?
General learner Objectives
· Students gain appreciation and tolerance for government decisions
· Students understand the role, rights, and responsibilities of a citizen
in a global community
· Participate constructively in the democratic process by making rational decisions
· Respect the dignity and worth of self and others.
· Students will have a positive attitudes about democracy, including an appreciation of the rights, privileges and responsibilities of citizenship
Specific Learner Objectives
· analyze how government action can affect the people, both positively and negatively; e.g., saves public money, reduces service to some people
· Analyze examples of how well local government is meeting needs
· draw conclusions about rights and responsibilities of citizens
· take notes on an oral presentation; e.g., interview, speech, film
· summarize information from a variety of sources
· use prepared notes in presenting an oral report;
ICT learner objectives
C1 1.1 - access and retrieve appropriate information from electronic sources for specific inquiry
3.5 analyze and synthesize information to create a product
3.6 communicate in a persuasive and engaging manner, through appropriate forms, such as speeches, letters, reports and multimedia presentations, applying information technologies for content, audience and purpose.

This assignment is very much dependent on technology. I think that Sim City is a great way for students to learn how to react in situations and see how their actions cause reactions and the way the game is set up allows students to react to technology and problem solve. Sim City is a program that will unbiasly challenge the students to deal with natural disasters that a teacher may not be able to do. The program has a lot of variables as well (economics, health, natural disasters) that are also made easier by the program simulations. The power point allows students to organize their information on slides in an organized manner. This allows students to communicate in a fashion that will allow for the important information to be shown as well as incorporate images of their sim city on their slides that otherwise may not be shown.