Sophmores collaborate in the World Peace Game
Sophomores in Ms. Buice and Dr. Chave's Humanities 10 classes recently spent five weeks collaborating in The World Peace Game.
Ms. Buice and Dr. Chaves’ sophomore humanities classes recently spent five weeks playing the World Peace Game, a hands-on, multi-dimensional, geopolitical simulation created by John Hunter in 1978.
“The World Peace Game is absolute chaos; 18 hours of gameplay are centered on a four-tiered game board, a Crisis Report consisting of 24 interlocking global crises, and an unparalleled amount of student choice,” said Buice. “The roles aren't always entirely clear, nor are the rules, and the facilitators are explicitly instructed to layout all necessary information and then allow students to struggle together without any outside interference.”
The Game is like a multi-dimensional game of chess, with several governments including a united nations body, an arms dealer company, a legal counsel firm, and a world banking institution. These entities find themselves embroiled in a complex and interlocking set of simultaneous military, economic, social, and environmental crises.
The challenging and creatively demanding goals of the game are two-fold — for student-run governments to bring prosperity to the entire world by having each nation’s individual assets (budgets) increase beyond their initial value and extricating each country from all initial crisis situations with the least amount of military action.
“The World Peace Game challenges our sophomores to work collaboratively, think critically, and solve problems creatively. This kind of project-based learning is fresh and exciting and engages the students in a more immersive way than a traditional classroom setting could,” Chaves said. “Projects like the WPG reflect our growing commitment to creating a 21st-century classroom for Rabun Gap students.”
The sophomore humanities team had three games running concurrently this year. There were three massive four-tiered boards and each game consisted of two sections of Humanities 10. The fact that students in different games shared crises with each other, which created subtle influences across the multiverse, added complexity to the games.
“Over the past five weeks of gameplay, students began to figure out what they were doing. There was a distinct shift from egocentric thinking and enthusiasm about engaging in military action in order to achieve objectives to a more collaborative, creative approach,” said Buice. “The criteria for winning the game are the following: all crises must be solved, and all countries must be financially above their starting point. Somehow, in the midst of all the mayhem, all three teams managed to win the game. It was promising to see not only the creativity and problem solving that occurred but the willingness to set aside egos and work together for solutions that benefited everyone.”
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Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School
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Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School is a private, coeducational day and boarding school for grades Pre-K through 12. Centrally located between Atlanta, GA, Greenville, SC, and Asheville, NC, we prepare young people for college, career, and a lifetime of leadership and service.
