Scott Pangrazzi - Case Study
High School Social Studies Teacher at University Liggett School
Learn how Scott connects the simulation to his class
Incentivize
Run the Sim
Act out Sim Decisions
Debrief Together
Read more
School: University Liggett School, Grosse Point, Michigan
Years Teaching: 12
Why teach? Like to focus on preparing students holistically for college.
How long have you used Statecraft: 1 Full School Year.
How many students: Over 100, almost the whole Sophomore class.
Classes Used: Sophomore Civics Courses.
Mode: Generally In-person, but COVID forced students to quarantine and play while they were at home.
Why use Statecraft? We were creating a new course and while justifying it, the question that always get asked is “What’s the real world application?”. We knew about Statecraft for two years and in creating the class with the Dept. Chair and Dean of Pedagogy, we made the leap to include the US Government Simulation.
Incentivize
Are you dialing in how you incentivize the students now that you have used this twice? I tell the students at the beginning of the class that we will be playing a simulation and that it's part of their grade in the class. They get really excited about it! I don't typically use the SP [Sim Points] as my participation tracker, but instead use the reports that I receive from Statecraft about achievement each period. I also use the Justification Memo's that I require students to write each of their turns as part of their participation grade (learn more about Scott's Justification Memo's below!). The assignments connected to the simulation are about 50% of the fourth quarter.
Run the Sim
When do you introduce the sim? We have three units in the class. The first is "Why Government?"; the second is “How does our government protect citizens? How are citizens protected from our government?"; and the third is the Statecraft US Government Simulation. I want students to be prepared so that when they see most of these roles, they have a little bit of knowledge about them.
What do you do the first day of Period 1? We go through their positions and I have them pick at least 5 actions. They detail how each action connects to a position goal on a physical graphic organizer. They also explain the cost and benefit and what they think will happen with each action. Every action in some way, shape, or form is going to be connected back to the position goals, so I want them to pick up on that. Then they play!
How do you organize your Statecraft days?
They sit a tables with others from their position groups and start there before negotiating or debating with members of other groups. I walk around and answer any students' questions. We usually spend 30 minutes on clicking buttons and engaging in the simulation. Most of the other time is devoted to going over supplemental materials and connecting the simulation role to the role in the real world.
I think there's a lot of lightbulb 'aha' moments. The stuff that maybe they memorized so they could write their essay in Unit 2 about how the branches interact - someone says 'oh yeah the Speaker does this' or 'bills can get caught up in committee and never make it to a full vote'. This is a really important moment to review.
Act out Sim Decisions
How do you reinforce communicating sim decisions with other students?
Each Period, students are required to submit Justification Memos that detail the issues they were presented with and the pros and cons of their decisions. Students are expected to share their memos with ONLY the member of their groups. For example, the President only shares theirs with the Executive Branch.
How do you connect those decisions to the real world?
Each student is then required to use their Justification Memos, their screenshots, XP trackers, and other supplementary resources to create a Justification Product. The product represents one of their role actions or is inspired by another person’s action.
Debrief Together
How do you wrap up the simulation?
I gave students the questions and Debrief Presentation at the beginning of the class so they knew what they were going to do. Students choose an essential question based on their position, create a presentation using all of their resources from throughout the simulation, and then present it to the rest of class after the simulation concludes.
What else should we know?
I wish I knew that Statecraft staff existed. Knowing there is someone out there to support me in a way that you have is encouraging - especially to teachers like me that don't necessarily enjoy games, but see the benefit in terms of curriculum. I like that comfort of knowing there is someone to reach out to.
Words of wisdom. Give it a try. I personally struggle to push myself to do new things - I get very comfortable. I also end up being really happy when I try new things too. If you're someone like me, give it a try. Worst case scenario, you do it once and it doesn't work. I mean, that happens anyways for teachers. Happens to me all of the time. You're already reinventing the wheel all the time anyways and even if something works, you're changing it. Time ends up changing it.
Thank you for showing us how you engage your students, Scott!
