Ayiti Lesson 2: Class Discussion about the Cost of Life
Ayiti: The Cost of Life is a role-playing video game in which the player assumes the roles of family members living in rural Haiti. At the start of the game, the player chooses a primary goal for his/her family: achieve education, make money, stay healthy, or maintain happiness. During the course of the game, the player encounters unexpected events and must make decisions that contribute to or detract from achieving the chosen goal. After students have played the game they will need to reflect upon as well as share their experiences. The discussion questions are designed to explore: •The correlation between choices made, their respective outcomes, and the constraints faced within the game. •How the students’ own lives and situations compare and contrast with those of the family members in the game. The discussion may be carried out face-to-face, or online, both aynchronously using a TIGed discussion forum, and synchronously using TIGed Live Chat. This activity is part of Global Kids' Virtual Classroom for Ayiti: The Cost of Life. Click here to access the complete teacher's guide.
Time Required: 20 minutes for face to face or online Live Chat discussion, additional time for asynchronous online dialogue
Students will be able to:
•Use an online game to understand conditions in contemporary Haiti and how poverty is an obstacle to education.
• Develop problem-solving, critical thinking and such life skills as resource management, budgeting, and planning for the future.
•Learn about ways in which they can advocate for action to confront poverty and increase access to education in Haiti.
Written for students. You can add this directly to your class as an assignment!
Click on 'Class Discussions' on the left side of the classroom to contribute to a group reflection on playing Ayiti: The Cost of Life. Address at least one of the following questions on the discussion board:
1. Why would parents choose to devote so much effort to sending their children to school?
2. How many of you were able to keep the children in school?
3. What obstacles did you face in trying to keep them in school?
4. How do the situations and options in the game compare with those in your own community?
5. Why might access to education be a challenge in another country?
6. What factors would make it easier for the children in the game to gain access to education? What conditions could be changed and how?
Web Pages Used
"I wonder if there is any way to actually win the game. I lost very quickly both times I tried, even with a change of strategy. Is that the point? There is no way to win in Haiti?" (Posted By: Iris Durfee)
"The overall educational value of the "Ayiti: The Cost of Life" game is very high and the creators should be applauded. However, we have a couple of suggestions that we believe will improve our students' gaming experience: 1) Basic starting instructions should be simpler and clearer. For example, can instructional pop-ups be embedded in the game itself to remind players of the steps required to start game play,? 2) Existing pop-ups that provide important input, such as characters' comments, should be onscreen for longer. Slower readers will have difficulty comprehending and then acting upon information. This will quickly lead to frustration. We'd like to see these changes made before we can recommend the game to our teachers. Thank you, Louise Marleau Social Studies/Native Studies Researcher, Frontier School Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada " (Posted By: Louise Marleau)
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