This game was created by Tom Martin of Norfolk Public Schools.

VUS.2 & VUS.3

 

Materials: “Would I Have Survived Jamestown” sheets, (1 per student); and “A Short List of Early North American Settlements” ; set of transparencies providing visual context for historical decision-making, “grave markers”; transparency depicting an historical broadside encouraging English settlement in VA; dice/deck of cards for randomly assigned factors and developments.

 

Procedures:

Ø       Students review English broadside [http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/kislak/promotion/a609n001.html transparency and compile list of factors the advertisement suggests (profits from agriculture),  and the danger/life-threatening situations that could arise.

 

Ø       Prepare students by asking:

§         Historically, what do you think has been the strongest catalyst for migration and/or settlement?

§         What factors might induce you to move to an unknown land?

§         Of the potential problems on your list, which is the most initimidating>

§         What factors/developments do you think caused many of the early European settlemtns in America to fail? Succeed?

§         Describe what you believe to be the ideal colonist 9age, gender, socio-economic profile, psychological make-up, etc)

§         How could/should the Europeans have most effectively and profitably interacted with the Native American cultures they encountered?

§         To what degree might the success of failure of a colony affect similar efforts in the future?

 

Activity:

Ø       Students are charged with making decisions, the outcome of which will impact their “life points”

Ø       Each student is assigned a settler profile/ship assignment  [http://www.virtualjamestown.org/timeline2.html]

Ø       The activity is designed to simulate the historically harsh reality, so student “casualties” (students who lose their life points) is typically high

Ø       Teacher leads class through historical “crossroads” at which decisions must be made that when compared to the historical record, will positively or negatively affect their points

Ø       All students, regardless of their life point status, are to complete the “historical reality” section of the handout

Ø       In closure, students are asked to develop an acrostic with “Jamestown,” such as:

 

J: Joint stock company was formed for minimizing initial costs of the venture

A: Africans were used on the tobacco plantations against their will

M: Money-making was the primary catalyst for the Virginia Company of London

E; Economic opportunity was driving force behind the settlements in Virginia

S: Self-government was developed in the form of the House of Burgesses

T: Tobacco became the cash crop that saved the Jamestown colony

O: Ownership of land caused conflict between Native Americans and Europeans

                       W: Wars and the introduction of diseases decimated the Native Americans

                       N: Nobles (Cavaliers) were among the first settlers in Virginia

 

 

 

Below you will find a series of choices that the Jamestown settlers were forced to make from 1607-1619. You are being given an opportunity to make those same choices. You have been given five (5) life points to begin your journey. As you progress, you will either gain or lose points based on the effects of your choices. If your life points fall to zero, you are a fatality. Be sure to fill the Historical Reality and Notes sections as your experience continues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SITUATION

1.       Leaving England

 

 

2.       Choosing Route

 

 

3.       Logistics

 

 

4.       Food Supply

 

 

5.       Voyage Length

 

 

6.       Settlement Site

 

 

7.       “Guns or Butter”

 

 

8.       Choosing Leader

 

 

9.       Native Relations

 

 

10.    Guns or Butter II

 

 

11.    Choosing Commodity

 

12.    Overcrowding

 

 

13.    The Starving Time

 

14.    New Arrivals I

 

 

15.    New Arrivals II

 

 

16.    Pocahantas

 

 

17.    African-Americans

 

18.    Government

Choices

 

 

 

 

 

CHOICES

Which Month?

 

 

Northern or Southern?

 

 

Sail separately or tied together?

 

List 4 food/drink items

 

 

Number of months?

 

 

A? B? C?

 

 

Build Fort?

Plant Crops?

 

John Smith: Yes? No?

 

Sell? Give? Trade? Do Nothing?

 

Rebuild fort?

Plant Crops?

 

Potash? Pitch? Glass?

 

Stay Inside? Move outside?

 

Stay Inside? Move Outside?

 

Accept them? Turn them away?

 

Accept them? Turn them away?

 

Welcome? Ban? Prisoner? Kill?

 

Slaves? Servants? Ban? Equals?

 

 

Rep Govt? Direct Democracy? No govt?

 

 

 

 

 

HISTORICAL REALITY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LIFE POINTS

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I survived Jamestown?