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Democrats gather at their National Convention in Chicago to debate a platform for a deeply divided party. Factions are split over issues such as civil rights, infrastructure, and the war on poverty—not to mention the war in Vietnam. 5-7 Sessions 14-61 Students 21st Century North America Published Game (What's this Mean?) |
After a Long Battle: Congressional Response to the AIDS Epidemic, 1982-1985 Asks players to put themselves in the shoes of those living at the height of the AIDS epidemic in America when next to nothing was known about the virus. By taking the roles of congressional representatives, government epidemiologists, doctors, researchers, gay activists, preachers, journalists, and citizens, students can understand the radical changes to society when a new disease caught the country unprepared. 6-11 Sessions 10-30 Students 20th Century North America Level 3 Game (What's this Mean?) |
Diet and Killer Diseases: The McGovern Committee Hearings, 1977 Many trace the origin of the low-fat diet craze to the Senate hearings of the McGovern Committee in 1977. This game examines the scientific evidence available in 1977 by expanding the hearings to include a larger range of voices than were invited to the actual hearing. Students will take the role of senators and the media while examining scientific evidence at the time linking dietary fat to health. 3-8 Sessions 6-36 Students 20th Century North America Level 3 Game (What's this Mean?) (STEM) |
Food Fight: Challenging the USDA Food Pyramid, 1991 Set during a 1991 Congressional hearing that evaluated the USDA’s development of the Food Pyramid, a document that angered various agribusiness groups and some nutrition experts. This Open Access Reacting Game can be used in food and nutrition general education science courses and introductory chemistry and biology courses. 3-5 Sessions 11-35 Students 20th Century North America Published Game (What's this Mean?) |
Guerrilla Girls in our Midst: 1984-1987 The booming 1980s New York City art scene saw the emergence of a feminist art collective known as the Guerrilla Girls who exposed contemporary art world sexism and racism. Major questions for debate range from whether the art world is sexist and should embrace affirmative action to whether artistic quality even matters, who gets to determine such quality, and whether one can legitimately tie quality to sincerity of expression within a postmodern world. 8-9 Sessions 10-34+ Students 20th Century North America Level 3 Game (What's this Mean?) |
Kansas, 1999: Evolution or Creationism Christian Conservatives on the Kansas Board of Education have deleted macroevolution and Big Bang cosmology from the state science curriculum. The game centers on the election of a new Board of Education which must, for legal reasons, revisit the decision. Questions are raised about the role of religion in American society, the power of religious fundamentalism in the modern world, and the nature of science. 7-9 Sessions 12-30+ Students 20th Century North America Level 3 Game (What's this Mean?) (STEM) |
Physician-Assisted Suicide: Autonomy, Ethics, Morality, and the End of Life The California legislature, governor, and courts consider approval of the End of Life Option Act (EOLA) to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Players engage in the forty-year debate from 1976-2016 springing from the case of Karen Ann Quinlan, which raised questions about whether there is a right-to-die, the roles of family and physicians, and how the constitutional right to privacy is involved in end-of-life decisions. 7-9 Sessions 14-30+ Students 20th Century North America Level 3 Game (What's this Mean?) |
Radio Days and the FCC: Breaking up Broadcast Monopoly The Federal Communications Commission is holding hearings on what to do about the perceived monopoly power that the major radio networks – NBC and CBS – exercise over their affiliated stations. Game sessions involve witnesses taking testimony on a series of six questions before the Commission and culminates in a final, decisive vote that will decide the future of the radio industry. 5-13 Sessions 10-28 Students 20th Century North America Level 3 Game (What's this Mean?) |
Changing the Game: Title IX, Gender, and College Athletics A debate over the role of athletics quickly expands to encompass demands that women’s sports and athletes receive more resources and opportunities. The result is a firestorm of controversy on and off campus. Students wrestle with questions of gender parity and the place of athletics in higher education. 7-10 Sessions 10-40+ Students 20th Century North America Published Game (What's this Mean?) |
A Different Kind of War: The United States, The Cold War, and Vietnam, 1963-65 The game examines the violent and sometimes brutal interactions between communist efforts to liberate the nations of the “Third World” from colonialism, American fears about Communist aggression, the resulting US strategy of containment, and the volatile situation in Southeast Asia during the mid-1960s. 5-9 Sessions 25-30 Students 20th Century North America Level 3 Game (What's this Mean?) |
Monuments and Memory-Making: The Debate over the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, 1981-1982 When the Vietnam War drew to a close, the process of memorializing the conflict resulted in a tug-of-war over the national narrative of the 20+ year struggle. Students will take part in the conversations and controversies that emerged as the nation grappled with how best to memorialize what was at the time the longest conflict in US history. 8-9 Sessions 10-35 Students 20th Century North America Published Game (What's this Mean?) |
Watergate, 1973-1974 Students experience the unfolding of America’s most dramatic constitutional crisis of the 20th century: the investigation of the Watergate burglary and its subsequent cover-up. With the world’s most powerful person barricading himself within the walls of the White House and threatening to take the constitutional order itself hostage to ensure his political survival, how could well-intentioned leaders pursue truth and justice without risking collateral damage to the nation’s foundational principles and institutions? 9 Sessions 12-30 Students 20th Century North America Published Game (What's this Mean?) |
Restoring the World, 1945: Security and Empire at Yalta The devastation of the Second World War is coming to an end. As victory for the Grand Alliance draws close, the leaders of Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the United States gather at Yalta for the most important summit meeting of the war. But will differences in their ideologies prevent them from forging a lasting peace? 7-10 Sessions 12-30 Students 20th Century Europe, International Published Game (What's this Mean?) |