Level 100 in the Gamified Classroom
/In the last installment, I shared some ideas about how games work and the mechanics that need to be in place for the game to work. These required mechanics are mandatory for games and they are no less mandatory for a gamified curriculum. Each level has to produce a certain level of engagement, a minimum level of flow, in order for the player/student to experience the work in the manner of a game. At the other end of the spectrum, beyond the bosses, is the final boss - the last obstacle to victory.
In my gamified classroom, "level 100" is the final boss. Students have to answer 1 level 100 question successfully in order to complete the Knowledge Tree. Like any other final boss, I intend the level 100 question to have some mandatory qualities:
1) It is the hardest single question they have faced so far in the class.
2) It is the hardest single question they will face in class.
3) Answering it requires that the players/students have used the opportunity afforded by leveling to acquire knowledge and integrate knowledge at their highest capacity.
4) The question builds explicitly from other questions in that branch of the Knowledge Tree.
5) It is answerable by a solo player, but is more easily/successfully answered by an ALT (accountable learning team).
The Level 100 Questions For America 3.0 (2011) are:
Social Change: Choose one of the following socially constructed concepts (parenting, family, gender, sexual orientation, adolescence, work) and trace all of the ways in what that concept has changed since America 2.0 began to give way to America 3.0. Trace the development of the change in your chosen concept through each of its major crisis points, how the American people have stimulated and resisted the change and speculate based on reason and sound evidence how you believe your chosen concept might continue to develop over the next ten years.
Culture: In the transition from America 1.0 to America 2.0, major disruptions in social relations and "social truth" led to the widespread adoption and embrace of fringe cultural practices. In many cases, these fringe practices died out (Fourierism), but in other cases, they survived into our own age (Christian Science). Trace the phenomenon of cultural resistance to the mainstream and/or the emergence of cultural anxiety in the transition from America 2.0 to America 3.0, and speculate based on reason and sound evidence about the likely survivability of at least three cultural expressions in 2100.
Politics: You are the campaign manager either for the Obama re-election campaign or for the campaign of his Republican opponent (if you select this option, you must also select the candidate). Construct a winning campaign for your candidate. This must include issues, approaches to media, approaches to social media, opposition research, spending plans, fundraising plans, travel plans, electoral college projections, debate preparation, constituency management and outreach, contingency plans in the result of foreign crises (if you are the president) or selecting a vice presidential running mate (if you are the Republican). For purposes of this BOSS WIN, you must explain the historical reason for each of the decisions you make.
Economics, Finance, Labor, Industry: Bring the federal budget into balance, explaining how you do so, who pays and why, the social consequences of your decisions and short, medium and long term EFLI consequences of your decisions. For purposes of this BOSS WIN, do not consider politics, but you must explain how and why the nation made the decisions you are now correcting.
Foreign Policy: Advise the president (in the mode of NSC-68) regarding the most serious foreign policy challenges facing the United States, in your judgement, between now and 2025 and what he/she should do to ready the nation for them.
Technology: Technology is, arguably, the single biggest change agent in the last half-century, perhaps initiating the transformation of America 2.0 to America 3.0