KyEdRPG, Part Three: Westward Expansion, d20 Style

This is Part Three of a three part series to kick off a new website, KyEdRPG, and how role playing games can positively impact student learning.  In Part One, we celebrated the launch of the website itself. In Part Two, we shared the experience of a Kentucky middle school teacher who runs an extracurricular D & D club that has been both virtual and in person. In this final entry, we discuss how a Kentucky teacher created a more engaging and impactful way of teaching about U.S. westward expansion with an in-class role playing game.

Patrick La Mar is a social studies teacher currently at North Oldham High School in Oldham County Public Schools (KY-USA).  Back when he was teaching at Oldham County Middle School, a principal asked if there were ways to make his lessons on westward expansion more engaging for students. Patrick became inspired and synthesized two games into one:  Dungeons & Dragons, and The Oregon Trail.  (Coincidentally, both of these started within a few years of each other; the first The Oregon Trail [text-based] video game launched in 1971, and D & D was first published in 1974.)

For this in-class RPG, the students are put in groups.  They either choose or are assigned roles such as Banker, Doctor, Trapper and so on.  Each role gives a certain advantage in one of its character abilities.  Next, students embark on their journey via a Slides deck of twelve events, often rolling a d20 dice to see if they persevere through their challenge or fail.  (Yes, death by dysentery is a possibility.)

Coupled with an opportunity to individually reflect on the experience at the end of the lesson (what was the biggest takeaway? what would you do differently if you played the game again?), I imagine students have a much better appreciation for the hazards of westward expansion in the 1800's, and that knowledge can also spur some interesting conversations.  For example, how often did the Sioux actually attack the Oregon Trail pioneers?  How might we look today at the point of view of various First Nations tribes that such settlers were moving through territory that pioneers didn't own and without Native American permission?   We can see how the power of role playing games to both problem solve, as well as critically consider and think through alternative perspectives. 

For Patrick's game materials, check out the Google folder here.  And for more RPG teacher resources, check out this page of the KyEdRPG website!

I hope you enjoyed this three part series.  For those new to the idea of role playing games in education, may it inspire you to find some ways to incorporate them into your own school or classroom.  And for those that are educators and already ardent fans of RPGs, may you share your own resources, articles and ideas by interacting through the KyEdRPG social media as well as using the hashtag #KyEdRPG!