3 Lessons Board Games Teach Us That Schools DON'T

students don't learn from school if students learn anything from going to school it's because they have great teachers it takes a special person to stay in the classroom year after year in an environment that seems to increasingly make things more difficult for teachers and I should know I taught in New York City public schools for 10 years of course now I review board games and I homeschool but in this video you'll learn three challenges that students and teachers face at school and three ways that board games can supplement [Music] education so in this video I'm going to be speaking from my personal experience on three problems or issues in which schools are inadequately equipped to help students and at the end of the video I have a few tips or actionable items that you can use to help students in your community the first problem is a consequence of an emphasis on standardized testing now I could make an entire video just about this however for now I can think of at least two ways in which this is negatively impacting students first standardized testing incentivizes teachers to teach to the test and as a result of that it motivates students to pay attention only to the types of material that are going to be on the test and secondly it conditions students to think in terms of multiple choice or to think that problems can only have one answer now while I was teaching I was the adviser of an after school board game club then and today I find that board games counters these negative effects an obvious example is that for any board game there is a lesson and an application the lesson is teaching the rules and the application is playing the game none of this requires an exam rather intuitively the students or whoever you're playing with understand that the rules are how you play the game and you need to pay attention to the rules so that you can have the application which is how education should be instead we have you need to learn these things because it's going to be on the test and is it applicable no one really knows but it's on the test and that's why you need to study it now of course I need to give you a recommendation and while I think that every board game accomplishes this I want to give you something that you can easily introduce to students and something that really defies their expectations so for that I might recommend QE now in QE players are central banks and every round there's an auction to bid on company tiles but because they're central banks players can print money so in the game they essentially have unlimited funds the catch is though whoever spends the most money loses the second problem relates to how testing is conducted this is something that everyone is familiar with you're in a room seated by yourself with nothing but a number two pencil and a Scantron you're not allowed to look at your notes your textbook or consult anybody else when on Earth are you going to be in a job where you have to solve a problem working by yourself and not Consulting any resources ever in school we call asking a colleague for an answer cheating but in the real world we call it working smarter not harder why don't we let students work together on an exam why don't we let them use their their notebooks or their textbooks or their phones for goodness sakes because we're not giving them genuine problems we're giving them these crappy exams c.1 and you could say well projects projects solve this problem students work together they get to use resources all you know all of that stuff happens when people work together on projects but the problem with projects is projects don't really count they don't feel as genuine as exams also C point1 students are already conditioned to believe that the thing that actually matters is an exam unless you actually test a student on the skills that you want them to learn they will not learn it now you must be thinking what I'm talking about is impossible exams have to be be done this way that's the way exams are done no I've done this I've tested my students and allowed all of this stuff and I found a way that works that's why I get so passionate about it and if you want to find that stuff out I already told you there's actionable items at the end of this video but you can check out the description anyway not the point board games how do board games solve this problem well once again we see not surprisingly it's easy for board games to solve this problem because board games are naturally collaborative you can just look at a classic like pandemic to see how board games can embody this but I want to give you a recommendation of a game that is immensely fun for at least high school students because that's who I introduced it to immensely fun has a set of rules that students will have to consult as they play the game now that's important because that's what we're trying to teach students to do not just to solve problems but also to be able to consult resources so that they can find the information they need to solve their problem so it's fun for students it requires s Consulting the rulebook and there's a lot of interaction collaboration negotiation Etc the game is Cosmic Encounter in Cosmic Encounter players are getting points by establishing colonies on their opponent's solar systems they're attacking they're finding allies to help attack or help defend and the real kicker in the game is that every player or every alien has a unique power the thing with the powers is that the powers allow the players to basically defy the rules So based on what the combination of aliens is for the particular game the rules can be different every single time this means you're going to have to consult the rulebook and in order to accomplish the objectives of the game you're going to have to be working together negotiating working out deals Etc the third problem isn't classified as a problem that schools are creating but rather something they're trying to do and they're ill equipped they need help and that is differentiation and student choice what I'm talking about is being able to serve students in a way that is specific to them for their needs for their interest now I say schools are trying to do this because while I was teaching this was what all of my training was about we were constantly learning techniques to help with differentiation in the classroom but it's hard because often times teachers are way outnumbered and also they're still held accountable to the same test again c.1 but nevertheless this is something where board games can still help out and what I want to give you is a recommendation for a game that provides players with many different choices once again there are so many recommendations for a game that does this but I want to give you a recommendation that I myself have tried and tested with numerous student groups and that game is evolution the idea of the game is that players are uh they're building they're building animals to survive the Ice Age and these animals have to eat but they can either be herbivores or carnivores and the cool thing about this game is that the cards are multi-use cards in other words there's a ton of choice involved in this game every player can have a very different style and most importantly students have loved loved loved this game it has always been such a hit when I was doing the board game club they were playing it every single time uh that game Evolution I wanted to close this video by talking about a few of the action items things that you can do if you're a teacher or if you are a parent for the teachers and Educators earlier in the video I alluded to a solution in testing where students could work collaboratively use their notes and I claimed that it was an effective tool now I did write an article about this several years ago I put a link to it in the description really it is an article that is for ED Educators for parents and everybody else here are some things that you can do first appreciate the teachers in your life they're working very hard they're doing some incredible things even if they're not doing board game clubs it's amazing show them your appreciation but aside from that the best thing I can say is get your child in after school activities and if your school does not have a board game club there are several things you can do one if you're an educator you can start a board game club and in fact while I did not do this when I was a teacher I've heard of teachers that actually just write Publishers and ask for free board games sent to the school and they use that it doesn't even cost any money at all if you're not an educator if you're a parent then I think the degree to which you can influence the school is going to depend on the school and your best bet is to start with the PTA start talking to them or maybe get some advice from another parent you know if it was the schools that I've worked at I would email the assistant principal of the math department and say hey this is something I'm interested in is this something that can start happening at the school what you know what steps could I take but again I think that school structure and everything is going to be different everywhere uh so ask it doesn't hurt to ask I hope you enjoyed watching this video as much as I enjoyed making it it was also a lot of work and for that I'd like to especially thank my patreon members if you find you're enjoying the content I'm producing I'd like to ask that you consider either joining patreon or giving a one time gift and if you can't I thank you for watching this video just the same thanks and I'll see you next time bye-bye