OUTRAM SECONDARY

Humanities Department Syllabus

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Bonopoly
A Bonding Board Game
Social Studies Lesson Study

Brief on Pedagogy

To stimulate interest in learning of new Social Studies topic – Bonding, a board game was created to infuse content key points. The board game modeled after Monopoly (Singapore Edition) and using the board base for the game. However, instead of Chance and Community Chest cards, new cards like Bonding and Disaster cards were created. Sources in the form of photos were added into the Bonding and Disaster cards to revise pupils’ understanding of source-based question skills, which is essential for exam. The department also brought in Lesson Study as a tool to assess the effectiveness of the game on students’ learning and to provide feedback to teachers. The department has embarked on a phase 2 in the Lesson Study project.

Objectives of the Game:

Pupils to be able to explain the importance of maintaining racial harmony and social cohesion in Singapore .
Pupils to be able to explain the challenges Singapore faces as a multi-ethnic society.
To promote inter-racial and cultural interaction in class.

Highlights of the Game

Special Cards

Bonding Cards : Players to draw a Bonding Card when they land on the ‘Chance’ and ‘Community Chest’ squares
Disaster Cards : Players to draw a Disaster Card when they land on the ‘MRT Station’, ‘Electric Company’ and ‘Tax Payment’ squares

These Special Cards contain questions that are based on pictorial and textual sources. When a player draws a Bonding Card or a Disaster Card, he is to pause to answer the question found on the card.

Specials Events

National Day : Players to say the National Pledge aloud and in unison and the team will receive $200.

Home Ownership Campaign : HDB wants to encourage the people to buy their own homes to encourage multi-racial living. Each player can buy any number of houses at only $100 each during the campaign but is limited to only one house per plot of land owned.

Terrorist Attack : Bombs go off in certain parts of the country. Players have to pay for damages for all land and properties (including MRT sites and Water Works, etc.) bought.

Economic Boom : There are restructuring shares and the Singapore government shares its wealth with its people. Everyone gets $500 each from the government.

and lots more…

Snap shots of the lesson in progress…