Tripp Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Greetings, I'm a CM player from the first weeks of the game, and the games remain among my all-time favorite computer games. So it wasn't hard to choose CM:BO as the centerpiece of a class I'm teaching for high school students for one intensive week. The week is a special event at our school where we'll stop all regular classes, and students pick one class to spend 5 straight days in (from 9am to 3pm, anyway). There's a description of the class here (see URL) CM:BO Knight School week. ("Knight School" is the title of the week...our school mascot is the Knight.) I'm writing to look for feedback from y'all about the class. Please consider that you're familiar with CM, whereas students will almost certainly not be. I've created a set of scenarios which I can upload or post on my personal website, but I can sum them up by saying that they are baby steps in control of the game, BASIC tactics for infantry, arty and combined forces. I don't really even get into armor vs. armor much. But as you can see on the web page, the goal of the class is not to teach expertise in CM. And while a secondary goal is to get kids excited about military history, the REAL goal is to teach them to think on their feet and do research afterwards so they can do better in the future. So I'm grateful to anyone who takes the time to read that info and post back some thoughts. If you're interested in the details of the scenarios, I'll get them so they're available. Thanks! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Brilliant Idea I was subbing last week for the "Science Class from Hell" one of the only well behaved two or three students had his Social Studies text open to WWII So I gave him the Battlefront website and told him about the games My ONLY suggestion looking at the Schedule is to begin with an overall briefing with a map on the wall like troops would get before a battle the Background, Objectives, Forces etc "Gentlemen (and Ladies) our Objective this Week..." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jBrereton Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 Good idea! It might well get people seriously interested in World War 2 history, which is nice. You could also provide them, if possible, with the "World at War" series, which has some good information on the subject if they're interested. If you had CM:BB you could also make a class in "what to do when horribly ill-equipped for a situation compared to your rivals" featuring early 1942 USSR vs. Germany. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripp Posted October 28, 2006 Author Share Posted October 28, 2006 Originally posted by jeffsmith: ...My ONLY suggestion looking at the Schedule is to begin with an overall briefing with a map on the wall like troops would get before a battle the Background, Objectives, Forces etc "Gentlemen (and Ladies) our Objective this Week..." Righto. We'll do a psuedo role-play thing where my colleague will be the unit S2 (intel officer)giving a briefing and I'll be the company CO giving the orders/mission briefing. We have maps for them to plan their missions on, and they have to write up a battle plan before the fight. Then they debrief and figure out their mistakes, then research how to do better next time. Then they re-fight each battle. That's a one-day cycle. We do that three times, playing vs. the AI, then we have an all-day battle 1-on-1 on the fourth day. More to it than that, but I don't want to go on too much... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 submit it somewhere that judges Curricula its worthy of an award of some sort 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realest Posted October 30, 2006 Share Posted October 30, 2006 Well, you could also use it as a lesson in Teamwork. Assign 2 students 2 squads of men or something. They can both have their own thoughts about how to go about the objective and learn to compromise and support. WW2 was wrought with it from high command to the troops on the ground. For the allies, it was one of our hardest battles to win as it seemed every general knew best and would complain to their own goverment heads if given opportunity. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rune Posted October 30, 2006 Share Posted October 30, 2006 For curosity's sake, where it the school located? Rune 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted October 30, 2006 Share Posted October 30, 2006 Menlo School Atherton, CA 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripp Posted October 31, 2006 Author Share Posted October 31, 2006 Originally posted by rune: For curosity's sake, where it the school located? Rune Yeah, as JeffSmith said, it's in Atherton, California. That's between San Francisco and San Jose. (Or 37 degrees 27'10.23" N 122 degrees 11'25.11" West) [ October 30, 2006, 08:59 PM: Message edited by: Tripp ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripp Posted October 31, 2006 Author Share Posted October 31, 2006 I'll chime in with some more details... While we will be putting some historic maps of Normandy and some tank posters on the walls, and we'll be spreading around some miniature tank (etc.) models in the room, and we will have lots of relevant books in the room for research (and access to a little thing called the internet), we'll also have maps for each scenario that will be part of our "live" briefings. We'll also have B&W copies to give to students to use in making their plans of attack. (EDIT: Since my students may now be poking around the web for the game, I took the link to my files down so they don't find them, FYI. -Wouldn't want to ruin the surprise for them.) [ November 01, 2006, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: Tripp ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffsmith Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 I'd love to be your teachers aide there for that week 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tarkus Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 Hey, sounds pretty interesting. WWII reading lists abound on the net, but if I may add too, here are some additionnal suggested readings from the top of my head that, I suppose, could appeal for a younger audience. although not totally related to wargame, tactical battles or small scale engagements: Stephen Ambrose, D-Day; John Keegan, Six Armies in Normandy; Both encyclopedia of german and US & British AFVs from Chamberlain (and Doyle and Ellis) would be sure winners I suppose. Some Ballantine books of interest from the old (but IMO quite interesting) Illustrated History of WWII serie: Battle of the Ruhr pocket Airborne Carpet D-Day Rhine Crossing Normandy Breakout These little (and admittedly aging) books are a great first step into military history. Gives an interesting and focused account on campaigns, battles and equipment without being too austere. Same could be said of the old Time-Life serie on WWII. The more historically inclined might appreciate to dig into the Oxford Companion to World War Two. A great tool to grasp just how gigantic this event truly was. Its always fun to read random articles from it, and usually everyone find something interesting. Good luck with this, and be sure to tell us how it turns out! JV [ October 31, 2006, 05:34 AM: Message edited by: Tarkus ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seimer Posted October 31, 2006 Share Posted October 31, 2006 Great idea-- the week seems well thought out. I'd be interested on how many girls sign up and how they do. From my days teaching military history at West Point with the first women to attend, I found them to be rather skittish of participating in similar activities. I hope the times have changed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripp Posted November 1, 2006 Author Share Posted November 1, 2006 Originally posted by Seimer: Great idea-- the week seems well thought out. I'd be interested on how many girls sign up and how they do. From my days teaching military history at West Point with the first women to attend, I found them to be rather skittish of participating in similar activities. I hope the times have changed. Well, we rolled out the program today (i.e., we introduced the students to all the course offerings), and it sounds like this will be popular. I did have one girl say she wants to take it, which is great. I think times ARE changing, in that dept., Seimer. I bet these girls (today's teens) are more likely to be ready to go toe to toe with the guys in classes. That's not true about ALL teen girls today, but a fraction of them who'd be interested in that direction seem to be assertive and confident enough, it seems to me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripp Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 Thanks for the input so far. We're still tweeking the plans for the week. The latest thought is whether we can make the scenarios more historical and whether the pros of that outweigh the cons. Since we're trying to keep the number of units minimal, I am leaning against much effort to be historically accurate in scenarios. The current plan has small, "could maybe have happened in Normandy" kind of scenarios in a small sequence. More to follow; further thoughts welcome. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
realest Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Be historical, however getting "Grog" may blow off the part that will hold them where you want them. If they can't imagine some for themselves, you've probably lost them. The fun for them will be getting to relive an action their grandparents or more likely great grandparents expierienced. This is further in time for them than it is for those of us in the 30-40 range. 99% of them hold WW2 in their timeline as we do WW1 in our perspective. It seems like Ancient History that belongs back in the days of knights and chivalry to them. Whereas the adult mind see's the span of 60-70 years as 1 lifetime, not several as someone 14-18 would. Something else, you could also tie in current events to the after effects of the war. I.E. Trouble in the Mid East where Britian set aside land to be called Isreal. The cold war, and all those issues. They likely will not realize that where we are in political situations is the result of decisions made years ago. Perhaps give them pause to think about the decisions they make today, as what actions they take today will determine the future they live in. My Thoughts 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sixxkiller Posted November 14, 2006 Share Posted November 14, 2006 Maybe next time you should set it up as a tournament type environment to maybe get these kids compettitive juices flowing. It may help them to stay focused during the long hours of computer time. Also maybe have them write a 1 page paper at the end of this program about what they learned during the course of play. But this is a great idea. Where can I sign up for the class next year???? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jev.Dk Posted November 15, 2006 Share Posted November 15, 2006 Another thing you could do. To get more interrested next time. Save all the turns, and make a movie out of it with Fraps. Have it recorded at ground level with intense fighting, and perhaps, have the students comment on the battle while the movie is running. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripp Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 Originally posted by Jev.Dk: Another thing you could do. To get more interrested next time. Save all the turns, and make a movie out of it with Fraps. Have it recorded at ground level with intense fighting, and perhaps, have the students comment on the battle while the movie is running. Yeah, I planned to do something like this so we can share it with others later (and next year?). Good call though The old Sid Meier's Gettysburg was one game that had that swell "replay" function...at the end of a good battle in CMBO, I sometimes wish I could hit that "replay" button! Oh well, I'll have to fake it up with FRAPS or some such. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripp Posted November 16, 2006 Author Share Posted November 16, 2006 Originally posted by jeffsmith: I'd love to be your teachers aide there for that week BTW, I now have a former student who's a bit of a grognard who IS going to be an aide for this week! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace Pilot Posted November 20, 2006 Share Posted November 20, 2006 Have you thought about using the student's names (if you know who has signed up) for various units they'll be commanding? Might increase the immersion factor for them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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