Grow A Game

after reading about Grow A Game, discussing it in class and playing it out, i still could not make a comfortable connection between play and lesson planning. i was overwhelmed by the assignment: to design a game that resulted in a lesson.  i was frustrated for the same reason that games are frustrating. obstacles! i considered working backwards the greatest obstacle i'd have to overcome. i was uncomfortable at first in creating restrictions on lesson plans (like rules of a game), until i realized the result of a well-constructed games is fairly unpredictable, unless you're playing with a cheater! my group members and i decided upon on a technique that is easily accessible and extremely open ended. We've decided on titling it The Magic Finger, because that is the tool used in retrieving ideas. Basically we will randomly place our pointer fingers down while flipping through a book, any book. This will be done 4 time, so that we can gather information for all 4 categories: (1) socio-political concerns (2) visual culture studies (3) material exploration (4) meaning making. That's really all there is to it, and the rest is up to the gamer. personal interpretation will guide the remainder of the lesson plan. 

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LESSON OVERVIEW: 

Students use reproductions of the symbolic dollar bill to explore and express their ideas about the value we place on money, individually and as a country.

so far, so good