GeekNative is running a story by our friend Eden Jones-Hind about her use of Monsters and Other Childish Things as a teaching tool in a fifth-grade classroom:
Eden Jones-Hinds, formerly of Oak Mountain Intermediate School in Birmingham, Alabama, is now principal of Briargrove Elementary School in Houston, Texas. She heard about Monsters and Other Childish Things from a friend and decided to use it as part of a creative writing curriculum for fifth-grade students. She had never played a tabletop roleplaying game before.
Newcomers can read a two-page summary of the Monsters and Other Childish Things rules here. (PDF)
Monsters and Other Childish Things is © and ™ Benjamin Baugh. Illustrations are by Rob Mansperger, © 2007.
Benjamin Baugh’s roleplaying game Monsters and Other Childish Things (Arc Dream Publishing, 2007) opens the virtual door to a world of creativity and power. Played in a school setting, it catapults problem-solving, making connections, and synthesizing relationships to a new platform for students. Students are challenged to make decisions that involve the scientific method, manipulating variables and using negotiation to survive. Probability controls the game and shows students how daily outcomes can be visible through statistics.
Monsters was introduced to a group of eight fifth-graders from Oak Mountain Intermediate School in Birmingham, Alabama, in a series of 45-minute sessions. The teacher served as facilitator and Game Moderator (GM).
