Kevin Whaley
Michael Rawlings
Catherine Hernandez
November 17, 2002
Financial Planning Grant
Tech Coord Q367-01 F2002

Introduction, Prior Planning, and Research

Executive Summary

This multiple teacher grant request proposes to enhance the American Citizen course by including and integrating the simulation application SimCity and a field trip to city hall. Outcomes will reinforce the Missouri Show-Me Performance Standards, Knowledge Standards, and the North Kansas City School District American citizen curriculum goals in Social Studies through the use of student-centered role play.

Target Population, Expected Outcomes, Process

Every junior level student in the North Kansas City School District is required to enroll in and pass the Social Studies course titled “The American Citizen” as a requirement for graduation. Therefore, the target population for this course improvement is all students graduating from Winnetonka High School. Once tested, the methods used in this course can be adopted by other Missouri high schools, as this course is designed to meet several of the Missouri Show-Me Standards for Performance and Knowledge by providing an overview of the various forms and operations of government in America.

Expected outcomes for students include that they are able to:

1.  Compare and contrast major American political and economic systems.  
2.  Demonstrate civic responsibility.
3.  Understand the operation of the three branches of government and the system of checks and balances. 
4.  Identify and locate major political and geographic units.
5.  Recognize ways to participate in government.  
6.  Demonstrate knowledge of civil rights, civil liberties, and responsibilities of citizenship.  

Additionally, students are expected to apply to real-world situations the knowledge, concepts and insights gained during their study. The inclusion of SimCity will provide students with opportunities to explore and evaluate course material to a greater depth than is currently possible, moving beyond basic comprehension to analyze, synthesize and evaluate important concepts and principles they can employ as American citizens. In this way students will develop and demonstrate higher level thinking skills, as defined in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students will gain a greater understanding of the intricate and complicated government systems they live among and will formulate methods for gathering information and making informed decisions in real-life situations. The application of their gained knowledge will be reinforced when students visit city hall a the end of the course to participate in “live” government in their local community.

The process for implementing these course enhancements is two fold. First, the SimCity software will be available to students in the Winnetonka High School computer lab and study hall and students will be given an orientation to the SimCity application. In a project spanning several weeks students will begin by researching actual cities and presenting a plan detailing the type of city they wish to create. Students will be asked to create life-like cities that include several aspects of urban settings. Acting as mayor of their cities, students will make numerous operating decisions regarding cost management, insuring public safety and welfare. After creating their city and operating it as mayor, each student will be responsible for creating a re-election campaign in which they must use examples from their simulation to identify “what worked” and propose corrections for unsuccessful outcomes. 

The second portion of these proposed enhancements will be to end the project with a field trip to city hall. This process uses procedures and methods already in place within the district. Teachers will accompany students on their trip and substitutes will be secured to cover teaching responsibilities in their absence. In the class meeting following the trip, there will be guided discussion of the student’s observations and experiences.

Research

The idea of developing methods for using technology to enhance learning is of growing interest to educators. The inclusion of simulation applications generally and SimCity specifically has been adopted in many programs. Two examples of how SimCity has been incorporated into learning environments are:

http://www.iavalley.cc.ia.us/~excel/VIRTUAL1.HTM
http://www.fi.edu/fellows/fellow3/apr99/simcity2000/why.htm

Professor Doreen Nelson is an educator and principle contributor to the development of SimCity. She describes her teaching method as “thinking backward ™”.  Professor Nelson notes that “ [e]ducation is primarily about learning what has been done, simply accumulating and replicating information. Students are not taught to become dexterous at transforming, changing and handling information.” She teachers her students to “think like designers; to hypothesize, envision and invent the future instead of imitating the past.” These are qualities and skills that the State of Missouri is seeking to instill in her students, and SimCity presents an innovative way to achieve these goals.

http://www.csupomona.edu/~dnelson/backwards.html
http://www.csupomona.edu/~dnelson/doreen.html

BECTA, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency studied the use of multimedia and simulation games for learning and education in 2001. This study determined that simulation games had several positive outcomes for learners:
Computer interaction skills improved, students were motivated to learn and collaborate, and students consistently used and developed higher order thinking skills.

http://www.becta.org.uk/index.cfm
http://www.becta.org.uk/technology/software/curriculum/computergames/docs/report.pdf

Opportunity/Needs

There is significant need to enhance this American Citizen course to improve the education of our students. Recently, a sampling of 150 students currently in the American Citizen course have taken a survey containing the two following questions:  

1) Do you feel the information learned in this class relates to your personal life?
Roughly, 50% of the students polled felt this course had relevancy to their lives.

2) Do you feel that government is important in your personal life?  
Only 40% of the students polled felt that government was important to their life. 

We feel that student responses to these questions reveal alarming perceptions student hold about their role as American citizens. Our young citizens must know that participation in their society and government is essential to ensuring that our Democracy remains strong and effective.

In addition to this survey, analysis of the 2002 MAP results shows that a majority of students at Winnetonka placed below “proficient” in several areas of the Social Studies exam. Specifically, low scores resulted in the following categories:

Knowledge of how social institutions meet the needs of individuals  
Knowledge of the political processes in the United States
Knowledge of the economic consequences of a public decision of the government
Knowledge of human-environment relationships
Knowledge of principles of governmental systems
Knowledge of functions and styles of leadership

SimCity addresses these areas of weakness through an interactive format that is interesting to the students. Using this student-centered activity, students will exercise higher level thinking skills to interpret information and make informed decisions leading to improved understanding in these knowledge areas.

There is a continuing need to improve teaching and learning so that state and district goals and standards and be better achieved. Through simulation of real environments and live participation in local government, these course enhancements address the following objectives: 

North Kansas City School District American Citizen Curricular objectives:
1.  Compare and contrast major political and economic systems.
2.  Demonstrate civic responsibility.  
3.  Recognize ways to participate in government.  
4.  Understand how current issues relate to history, government, and politics.  

Missouri Show-Me Performance Standards:
Goal 1 -- Students in Missouri public schools will acquire the knowledge and skills to gather, analyze and apply information and ideas. 
Goal 2 -- Students in Missouri public schools will acquire the knowledge and skills to communicate effectively within and beyond the classroom. 
Goal 3 -- Students in Missouri public schools will acquire the knowledge and skills to recognize and solve problems. 
Goal 4 -- Students in Missouri public schools will acquire the knowledge and skills to make decisions and act as responsible members of society. 

Missouri Show-Me Knowledge Standards for Social Studies
1. Principles expressed in the documents shaping constitutional democracy in the United States 
3. Principles and processes of governance systems 
4. Economic concepts (including productivity and the market system) and principles (including the laws of supply and demand) 
5. The major elements of geographical study and analysis (such as location, place, movement, regions) and their relationships to changes in society and environment 
6. Relationships of the individual and groups to institutions and cultural traditions 
7. The use of tools of social science inquiry (such as surveys, statistics, maps, documents) 

Goals, Objectives, and Evaluation

The goal of integrating SimCity and a field trip to city hall is to increase student achievement in the previously outlined areas of weakness on the MAP test while fostering a belief in government and its importance in the students’ daily lives.  

Objective 1:	Increase student performance on the MAP so that 80% of students will score “proficient” or better in the outlined areas of weakness.
Evaluation:	Comparisons of the 2003 data and previous years data will be used to determine the percentage of increase in the areas of concern.  Student surveys will be given to assess how the students felt the program helped them prepare for the MAP.

Objective 2: 	Foster in students a true belief in our government and its importance in their daily lives.
Evaluation:	Students will be surveyed at the conclusion of this course and the results will be compared to previous surveys. Questions will include:
Do you feel the information learned in this class relates to your personal life?
Do you feel that government is important in your personal life?  

Planned Activities, Timeline, and Dissemination

Timeline of Activities

July: Order and install software in selected computer lab. Verify that the application runs effectively in the environment.

August: Install software on teacher’s classroom computers and study hall computers. Schedule and conduct teacher training with the application.

September-December: Students will spend the entire first semester conducting research and collecting background material in preparation for the SimCity project. Specifically, students will be focused on learning:
The principles of democracy
The history of democracy
Concept of popular sovereignty
Principles of federalism
System of checks and balances
Principles of our economic systems

January-March: Students will begin the SimCity project. Their time will be divided so that they spend 50% of their time meeting the requirement of the SimCity project and 50% of instructional time will be spent studying the three branches of government.  

April: Students will take MAP test and answer survey questions. Results will be compared with previous years results when the new data becomes available.  

Long Range Plan: If the SimCity project has the anticipated significant and positive results towards meeting the outlined objectives, the project will be recommended for expansion to all American Citizenship classes in the NKCSD.  

Dissemination: Information about these course enhancements will be disseminated to the Winnetonka community. Specifically:
Parents will be notified via the course syllabus of each semester’s objectives. District and school personnel will receive an electronic newsletter. 
News release to the local newspaper will inform the community of the project.
Project details will be mailed to anyone requesting additional information.  

Budget

Summary of Budget: (rounded to the nearest $100.00)

	Software						$ 800.00
	Teacher development					$ 400.00
	Teacher substitutes					$ 800.00
	Field Trips						$1700.00

Total Proposed Budget:					$3700.00

Details of Budget: (in exact figures)

SimCity Software media and licenses:
5-user pack of media and licenses:	Qty (8)  @	$   59.00 ea.
	4-user faculty pack  			Qty (4)  @	$   59.00 ea.
	Shipping and Handling 				$   35.50 

	Total Software Cost: 				$ 743.50

In-service fees for teacher development	Qty (4)  @ 	$ 100.00 ea.

	Total Training Cost					$ 400.00

Substitute teachers for field trips
April trip (200 students)		Qty (4)  @	$ 100.00 ea.
	May trip (200 students)		Qty (4)	  @	$ 100.00 ea.

	Total substitute cost:					$ 800.00

Field Trip Transportation		
(Two trips, each with 4 buses and 200 students)
50 mile round trip for 8 buses		Qty (400)	$   1.00 mile	
	8 bus drivers for 8 hours		Qty (64)	$  20.00 hour
	
Total transportation cost: 				$1680.00			

Total Proposed Budget:					$3623.50