Semester Reflection
One of the highlights of this semester in Social Studies 10 was working on our group board game project. Our goal was to create a game that represented the major themes of a historical decade, and my group chose the 1960s, focusing specifically on the Vietnam War. We designed a game that used similar mechanics to “Risk” and recreated the Vietnam map to simulate how the war was fought between the U.S. Army and the Vietcong. Through this project, I had the chance to apply several important skills.
I gather and synthesize information to develop logical conclusions, such as when we researched how the Vietnam War was fought and used that to shape our gameplay mechanics. We didn’t want to just give players facts after the game—we made sure the game itself taught them something. Players had to build armies and manage funding just like the real sides did. By blending historical details directly into the gameplay, we gave players a sense of what decisions and pressures the sides actually faced during the war.
An example of where I built upon someone else’s ideas is when I reviewed ideas from other group members and suggested changes to improve how the game played. For example, if something didn’t make sense or didn’t flow well, I gave suggestions on what I thought would work better. This helped make sure the game was not only historically accurate, but also fun and easy to understand. Our final game was playable, enjoyable, and made sense without players needing to ask a bunch of questions.
I helped make sure the group was accountable to each other by doing my part in printing out the needed pieces and cutting them out, as well as helping color the map to give it a polished and visually appealing look. I made sure to contribute wherever I could, whether it was through hands-on preparation or giving feedback on how to improve mechanics. We all worked together with a shared goal, and I tried to make sure everyone’s ideas were valued and that we stayed on task.
This project helped me grow in multiple ways—not just in understanding the 1960s, but in how to work better with a team, improve ideas through feedback, and turn research into something engaging and educational.
