Redesigned Bocca al Lupo: A Game to Learn about the European Renaissance

Updated Summer of 2022

As a part of our regular practice, my teaching partner Tara and I systematically reflect on our practice. This reflection practice holds us accountable: to our students, to best practices in task design and assessment, and to ourselves.

We designed Bocca al Lupo in 2019 (click here to view a previous post about this game). Bocca al Lupo is a card game that we co-design with our students. It was initially designed as a card game that was a kind of mashup between Pokemon and War. We thought what we designed was pretty good. In essence, the students participated in "levels" where they chose a Sosantivo (Italian for "noun" - so a person, place, thing, or idea) of several possibilities and then created a card highlighting this Sosantivo's strengths and weaknesses. The students learned so much about the different ideas that emerged from the European Renaissance. They were also super engaged in the process. In our reflection practice, though, we realized that though they learned a lot, what was lacking was the big picture view of the changes that emerged during the Renaissance, and were missing the connections to broader ideas and trends that are so significant to our modern Western worldview. 

With social studies, we always want our students to come away with a bigger picture idea. Why do we learn about history? Learning about historical significance helps us understand why some ideas become so important to a culture's worldview while other ideas don't. In thinking critically about historical significance, we can look at our society now and understand why we behave in the way we do, and trace these roots to ideas that shaped our past. The study of the Renaissance is really about looking at the origins of a Western worldview - a worldview we can recognize here in North America today. 

So, we redesigned the game. Because we wanted this to be about making connections between ideas, we swapped the Pokemon/War game mechanic for another one: dominoes. The game of dominoes is all about making connections. This is a perfect example of why game-like learning fits in teaching and learning. We can use analogous concepts from games to help us reach our educational goals. For Tara and I, game-like learning isn't about gamifying - associating extrinsic rewards like points or avatars to traditional learning tasks. It's about borrowing concepts from games to design tasks around, leading to learning experiences that are intrinsically motivating and fun. 

The redesign is centred around the concept of "Powers." These are big ideas that emerged from the Renaissance or were a significant idea during the Renaissance that endure in some way today. The Powers we decided to centre on this year were: Competition, Democracy, Ethnocentrism, Feudalism, Hierarchy, Humanism, Imperialism/Colonialism, Monarchy, Monotheism, Oligarchy, Rationalism, Republic, Secularism, and Urbanization. We don't think we've quite hit on the perfect combination of Powers yet. Some worked better than others, which is kind of the point in that it makes the game more challenging as some concepts are more difficult to connect to. But others are hovering close to an idea that would be more appropriate, we think. 

In the 2021-2022 school year, we added minilessons to teach about these Power concepts. We taught one minilesson per day for the first seven days of the project. 

As they complete each level of the project in preparation for gameplay, the students create a card with a different Sosantivo. On the card, they draw a sketch of the Sosantivo, identify strengths, and make connections to Powers to which the Sosantivo relates. They complete seven levels, each one focused on a different aspect of the Renaissance: Arts & Culture, Math & Science, Religion, Trade & Travel, Politics, Technology & Innovations, and Philosophy. The student works through some research to learn about the Sosantivo, its role during the Renaissance, and use inferential and critical thinking to connect it to the Powers.

After the seventh level, the group has a full deck of cards and they're ready to play! Gameplay begins with the random drawing of a Power card, which is placed in the middle of the table. Then, each team randomly draws five cards from their full deck. To play the game, the team must play their cards, making connections to the Power Card or to other cards that have already been played. If they cannot play, they must draw another card from their deck. The object of the game is to be the first team to play all their cards. 

Students will be more successful in the game if they have a good understanding of the connections between Powers and Sosantivo. Because each student focuses on completing a singular card during each level, collaboration is essential for success in the game. The more the students on the team collaborate with one another to learn about each Sosantivo and deeply understand the connections between then, the better they will do in the game.

One of the key principles we kept front and centre during the design of this game was that students should have multiple opportunities to demonstrate a skill, and feedback should help them move their learning forward. We made another change this year to how end-of-level assessment worked. Whereas in the past. assessment took place in a group discussion, where we talk about the Sosantivos, their connections, and the big picture ideas they are noticing during the level, this year we shifted this to a simulated round of gameplay with the group. We chose a Power Card or two and played a sample round, where each student played a card and connected it to the concept or another card. As we progressed, we added a challenge of them having to play a card they did not create.

An iteration we made in 2020-2021 was to give each student a feedback tracking sheet, which they kept in front of them during these assessment conversations and gave them a place to record feedback. We were very explicit in these conversations about what specific changes they could make in the next level to improve their progression towards our standards. We noticed that this feedback tracking sheet really helped students know what they needed to do to improve. Most students were hitting all the standards by the end of the seven levels.

We're happy to share our resources with you. Use them as-is, or hack them. If you do, we'd love to hear how it goes! E-mail us to let us know: elquinn@cbe.ab.ca and tabroshvandertoorn@cbe.ab.ca.

Here are links to Google Drive files with all the necessary files. If you'd rather just go to the whole folder, here's the link.

• A slidedeck to guide the game creation process
• An instruction manual to play the game
• A flowchart that shows the process of a level
• Player One Ready, the notecatcher students complete during research, as well as a modified version for students who need more structure/guidance.
• The Levels folder, with handouts for the research pages to help them complete the Player One Ready sheet.
• Levelling Up, a notecatcher for the students as they prepare for their end-of-level conference
• Powers Sheet, to help students keep track of each of the Powers and their definitions
• Minilessons on the Powers.
• Assessment Classlist, for the teacher to use during assessment of each level
• Feedback Tracking Sheet, for students to use to collect and track feedback to move their learning forward
• Links to folders with all the cards in Photoshop file format: 
• Student Cards, which are the cards to play the game
• Power Cards, which are used to begin the game
• Boost Cards, which are awarded to the group at the end of each level based on their collective ability to make strong connections
• Judgment Day Cards, which are awarded when a player challenges another player during the game, where students can object to a weak connection. A mini debate is then had, which the Questmaster (teacher) judges and awards a card based on the strength of the argument
• Quest Cards: If a student completes their research before other member of their team are ready, they can complete a Quest - a short challenge that extends and deepens their understanding. The reward is a Quest Card, which is a valuable card that can be used in gameplay.

Please reach out if you have any questions or to share your ideas with us! The whole point of this post is to explore how reflection helps us iterate to be better, so we welcome your ideas to help us do that!

Connect with us on Twitter: Erin & Tara

Creativity: Delving Into The Unknown and Coming Out On Top

By Stephanie Bartlett

The beginning of my creative journey last year was full of surprises.

I didn’t expect to jump off a cliff into the unknown territory of redesigning education and throwing out traditional methods. I didn’t expect to form a close group of creativity pals who text daily to constantly push each other to keep forging ahead with our work. I didn’t expect to be so passionate about creativity that I would need to share with others outside of my school. So the biggest surprise? By jumping off the cliff with the safety parachute of creative process, not only have I transformed my teaching practice, but my personal life as well. That makes the floating feeling of not knowing where you are going well worth it!

Start Easy, Then Ramp It Up

I tried many different activities and concepts, keeping Robert Kelly’s Seven Strands of Creative Development at the core of my explorations. I taught units of different lengths, trialled whole and small group projects and ended the year playing with Genius Hour.

I took to asking myself “WHY?” before attempting any activity.  Was it relevant to the curriculum or just pretty and fun?  Did it actively engage the higher order thinking skills of my students?  Some days, I longed to yank out a worksheet (Ack!) but my depart from traditional teaching methods gained momentum and kept pushing me to press on.

My biggest worry by the end of the year?  I didn’t want to lose the exhilarating feeling that comes from designing change and impacting others.  I didn’t want my enthusiasm from my transformative first year in Creativity in Educational Practice at the University of Calgary to slowly recede into that never-to-be-revisited pool of ideas from great PD workshops of days gone by.  So, in keeping with the creative process and in the words of the Stanford dschool, I now live with “a bias towards action.”

Tips for keeping creativity at the forefront of my practice as I begin a new school year:

1.  The Seven Strands of Creative Development (Self Instigative, Generative, Research/Investigative, Experimentational, Analytical, Collaborative, and Creative Sustain)

This is not a linear process.  Students are guided and activities are scaffolded as they learn metacognitive skills and how to “problem set.”  This is personalization at its best.  I keep visuals of the Seven Strands up to keep us on track during small and large group discussions.  For samples of these visuals, clvisit the resource section.

2.  Space As A Collaborative Tool

Using the dschool’s makespace as a guide, taking the time to visit other classrooms, and learning from my PLN on twitter, I redesign my classroom often, always moving towards a space that is conducive to collaboration for a particular unit of study or time of year. Some tips:

• Keep plenty of shelf and wall space designated for the display of finished work, as well as work in progress that students can return to.  

• Prototyping of ideas becomes natural when materials are organized in clear bins or baskets so that students can independently decide what might work best.

• Fill the classroom with stimuli (photos, articles, drawings) produced by students and teacher that serve to fuel explorations and idea generation.

Now you’re flying:

The notion of creative development and space as a collaborative tool are woven together with carefully designed projects and lessons (you can use the Learning Experience Design Model found in the resource section as a planning tool). I made sure to start out very slow, and nurtured the use of vocabulary, questioning and prototyping throughout the year in daily discussions.  I found it effective to begin each day with a quick talk about what student plans were for the day.  We toured the classroom at the end of the project time.  It was here that students learned from each other, and learned to question and and give suggestions.  

Both teacher and students find this process highly engaging.  You can tell by the smiles, the conversation and the way that they head straight for their projects as soon as they enter the room. The noise level is calmer...a focused buzz as students explore and create.

How do I assess creativity?  

Creativity is effectively assessed through ongoing feedback, goal setting and student reflections.  Depending on the age and ability of the student, this can be written, discussed and digitally recorded.  Please visit the resource section for the assessment tools that we have created.  

I am hooked...

I’ll be honest: last year was not always easy.  Outcome unknown means you ride the waves: there are highs and lows. I highly recommend working together with your team partners, colleagues, professional learning networks on twitter or the conversations on our website to talk about your work. Trust the process of creative development and you are guaranteed to be more passionate about your teaching and your students will surprise you with their enthusiasm!