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Radnor High School 9th-Grade Government & Economics Students Get in the Game

Radnor High School freshman Jahmir Dixon and his classmates were surprised when their teacher told them to play games in class. Little did they know they'd be learning core economic concepts in the process.

The game was Catan, formerly known as Settlers of Catan, a worldwide board-game phenomenon created by German gamemaker Klaus Teuber. Through it, students in Paul Wright's 5th and 7th period Government and Economics classes explored the concepts of supply, demand, trade, barter and opportunity cost - all while having fun along the way.

"The game is really fun and it also makes you think," Jahmir said. "It's really competitive and you can win in many different ways."

Catan is played on a hexagon-shaped board with numbered spaces representing different terrains that house resources such as lumber, brick, grain, wool and ore. Players assume the roles of settlers, attempting to build and develop holdings while trading and acquiring these resources.

During their turn, students roll two dice to tell them what terrain they’ll land on and which resources they’ll gather. They use these resources to construct roads, settlements (worth one point) and cities (worth two). The first player to 10 points wins.

"The game claims that it is easy to learn, but can take a long time to learn how to play well," Wright said.
"So the challenge is coming back to it again and again to get better, as opposed to playing it once and never seeing it again. Most of the students in this year's classes became interested in it, so a tournament seemed like a natural next step."

Over the course of the fourth quarter, Mr. Wright's students played a series of in-class games. The six players who earned the most points playing on May 9, 16 and 23 were invited to compete at a championship table in an all-day Catan tournament in the Black Box Theatre on May 30.

The remaining students competed in groups of 4-6 and faculty members were invited to join in the fun. Jahmir Dixon was named tournament champion.

RHS Catan Tournament Champion Jahmir Dixon considers his next move.
"I went in with a plan: build the most cities and roads...get the biggest army and longest road," Jahmir said. "I was just building a lot and I won."

The 9th-grade Government and Economics course provides students with an opportunity to study the key concepts of government and economics and how they are interrelated. Economics topics include economic theories, the global economy, macro‐ and micro-economic concepts, business organizations, entrepreneurship, and the stock market.

The students will use their experiences playing Catan as part of their Common Assessment on Economics.

"This was a wonderful way of engaging [our students] and teaching them about economics at the same time," assistant principal PT Kevgas said.

To learn more about this course, visit the Radnor High School Program of Studies.

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