Project Description
Our sophomore class created and led a simulation during the night of Festival Del Sol, which took place on April 13th, 2016. Our simulation took you thorough the journey of refugees fleeing Syria in hopes of finding a better life for themselves and their families. What we did to create this simulation was spend time researching the the places that have to do with the Syrian Crisis, read refugee's stories, and learned about the process of becoming a refugee.
When this project was launched, the big question was "how are we going to display our knowledge of the crisis?" For some time, our entire team debated about what would be the most suitable exhibition- which led us to a split decision between a play and exhibit. Since the vote was very close, our teacher Dr. P came up with the compromise of a simulation.
When this project was launched, the big question was "how are we going to display our knowledge of the crisis?" For some time, our entire team debated about what would be the most suitable exhibition- which led us to a split decision between a play and exhibit. Since the vote was very close, our teacher Dr. P came up with the compromise of a simulation.
Ideas & Influences
We spent lots of time researching other simulations that had been done by other's in the past and even learning about video game development. Learning about the process of video game storyboards was beneficial in the sense of understanding ways to create "options" for our audience members, or in other words, "should I go this way or that way?" We wanted to create this feel in our simulation because when refugee's flee from a country, they usually have options that they must make along the way - or sometimes get themselves in situations they have no options out of.
Event Sequence & Character Sheet
These are two documents my parter and I created when we first started reading about refugees stories and journeys. Based on the story we read, we created a story map and character map to demonstrate our understanding from the reading. Since everyone had different stories, our class made multiple map sequences and character sheets. We used these to influence the way we were going to create our simulation by using some refugee's actual experiences or similar character description.
Guided Tour of My Simulation
Character name: Adi Anuit
What character does for a living: Student
Character Backstory: Adi was only 13 years old when the war began in 2011. Her mother and grandmother thought it would be best for her to leave Syria in order to be safe before it got worse.
What character does for a living: Student
Character Backstory: Adi was only 13 years old when the war began in 2011. Her mother and grandmother thought it would be best for her to leave Syria in order to be safe before it got worse.
Handout
Station Research & Design Documents
Link to Research Document
Link to Vision Document
These documents are where our group stored all of our ideas and plans for our exhibition station. As a group, we all contributed and shared the work so we all knew what was happening and what needed to be done. The research document was used to help us understand our country's viewpoints on different topic. Our vision document was where we inserted photos and facts that would help us build a strong and powerful portrayal of the refugee camp.
Link to Vision Document
These documents are where our group stored all of our ideas and plans for our exhibition station. As a group, we all contributed and shared the work so we all knew what was happening and what needed to be done. The research document was used to help us understand our country's viewpoints on different topic. Our vision document was where we inserted photos and facts that would help us build a strong and powerful portrayal of the refugee camp.
Playtest One, Two, & Three
Through these three playtests, we used them as ways check in to how much progress we had made with our groups and what further research or preparation needed to be completed. We had different audiences flow through our simulation such as eighth graders, teachers and staff, and another sophomore class. These playtests were beneficial because we were able to hear feedback from actual audience members from their perspective of experiencing it for the first time. For example, an eighth grader was telling us how she was nervous that if she made the wrong decision she would either die or lose all of her money. A piece of feedback that we received through the playtest was to be sure to not break character so that the audience can feel like they are actually in the situation.
|
Single Station Playtests
When doing our single station simulation, we were able to participate in our classmate's station as audience members. This was beneficial for the group's because we were able to offer them ideas on how to make the experience on exhibition night stronger. I personally thought this was a good critique period and an interesting way to do it because we were not treated as classmates, we were treated like any other exhibition visitor during this time.
Final Playtest
During our final playtest, our audience were eighth grades from High Tech Middle Chula Vista. This final playtest took place on the morning of exhibition as a way to have our final prepping period. The middle schoolers were very impressed and interested in our exhibition. We received lots of positive feedback and compliments on the simulation which was a big confidence booster for us while entering Festival Del Sol.
Final Simulation on Festival Del Sol
During Festival Del Sol, our station and exhibition went really well! People were very intrigued with what we had to say as our characters and hearing about our knowledge of the Syrian Crisis. Many people gave us compliments and positive feedback about their experience through our simulation. For example, people were asking us (as our characters) about how we are treated and we were able to explain how women are taken better care of than the men, but some camp officers still abuse and sexually harass them. Of course this was more intense to speak about, but they were facts that needed to be shared.
|
Essay Quiz
Our "final" way of testing our actual learning and knowledge on the Syrian Crisis individually. We were given the option to write about whatever topic was the most interesting to us and would showcase all that we've learned. I chose to write about a country that had to do with the refugee crisis, Germany. Feel free to read my essay.
|