Richard Storrs

I used The Thingamabob Game: A Simulation on Capitalism vs. the Climate, to great effect, in my 8th grade classes.

As we discuss the Industrial Revolution, it’s hard for kids to grasp the bigger-picture effects of manufacturing.  We looked at how production and machinery led to pollution, how they caused an upsurge in use of resources, and how the following shifts in transportation led to more pollution (from trains) and more human-led change to the landscape (mining, railroad building, etc). That thread led to a discussion of how industrial changes in the north affected the Mississippi River, and how that then affected the less-industrialized South.