Branching Simulations

The Branching Simulation activity has students develop a branching simulation that emphasizes decision-making. Essentially, students create a story where the character(s) must make choices that lead in different directions. The story is inputted the to the wiki by the students. It can be used as a creative exercise by itself or as a tool for other students. The Ant Farm Design Pattern complements the TreeSim, by adding a collaborative element within a class or group. Students must interact with other students within the branching simulation that is reflected in both final projects.

By nature, this project lends itself to be the task of a WebQuest. My example project is a comprehensive WebQuest, I use the same terminology. If you do other WebQuests, this should help students become more comfortable with the project.

Process

    1. Select a topic that has sufficient web-based resources or has the context fully explained in class.
    2. Select a wiki solution. You may use one of the freely hosted wiki engines (Wikispaces, PBWiki, etc.) or have a free wiki engine installed on your district or personal server (MediaWiki, TikiWiki). For the first option, you could even have students set up their own wikis without you being involved – make sure this does not violate any district networking policies.
    3. If appropriate have students set up accounts or set up accounts for the students in the wiki.
    4. Set up the structure of the wiki, adding any needed navigation for the base pages. It might be appropriate for you to develop a visual chart of the teacher section of the chart (see example).
    5. Type in the project requirements on the appropriate pages. These requirements could include:
      • Creation of a Progress of Events Chart or planning sheet.
      • A certain number of facts, events, or other requirement.
      • Specific content that must be included.
      • The context in which the simulation take place.
    6. Lock the teacher pages if desired.
    7. Research the selected topic, providing links to web-based resources or how to find the needed information to complete the assignment. Include all of this information on the wiki.
    8. Review the project with your students. Provide instruction on how to use the wiki.
    9. Let them go.

This is based upon Bernie Dodge's TreeSim/Ant Farm Design Patterns for EduWikis.