Subject: Games + School Reform

Posted by Linda Booth Sweeney on 10/6/2008

Message:

Hello all,

I have a colleague who is looking to put together a conference to explore a systems approach to school reform. She wants to “shake it up a bit” and open the conference with a group simulation -- to show what happens in the process of school reform. Here’s a bit of background: Currently, school reform efforts in her country are more like “shots in the dark with little follow through and little consideration given to the impact of context or the human side of change. We seem to focus primarily either on introducing individual teaching methodologies -- cooperative learning, cognitive mapping, or such -- or else bringing in new books. Or else they think of such sudden, massive change that they are unable to pull it off and sink even more deeply. Professional development has been, too often, minimal, unconnected to context, dropped in and left dangling.”

She is thinking of using the Beer Game.

Are there other simulations or games you’d suggest?

My best,
Linda Booth Sweeney

Follow Ups:

Games + School Reform - Bill Ellis 10/9/2008 
Games + School Reform - Cristina Oliva 10/10/2008
Games + School Reform - Jane Tedder 10/6/2008 
Games + School Reform - James Barnes 10/6/2008
Games + School Reform - Jane Tedder 10/8/2008
Games + School Reform - Linda Booth Sweeney 10/8/2008
Games + School Reform - Gary Hirsch 10/6/2008 
Games + School Reform - Elisabeth Roberts 10/6/2008