. DOCUMENT EESUEE ED 125 939 'SO 009-166 AUTHOR Eartinson, Son; Harnapp, VerA 4 TITLE The Subsistence Agriculture Gene: A Simulation of Firming. Instructional Activities Series IA/S-17. INSTITUTION National Council for Geographic Education. PUB LATE '75 NOTE . 34p.; For related ddcunents, see' ED 096'235 and SO 009 140-167 AVAILABLE FaROM BCGE Central Office, 115 forth Earion Street, Oak Park, Illinois 60301($1.75, secondary se-O515.25) EDRS PRICE EF-$0.83 Plus Pdstage. BCNot Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS. 1.9ricultural ProductiOn; Agricultake; Decision 'making; *Economic Disadvantageaent; Economic Education; Economic Factors; Educational Games; Envirodmental Influences; *Farmers; Farm Occupations; *ForiignIcountries; *Geography Instruction; Learning Activities; Poverty Research; Secondary Education; *Simulation; Social'Studies;(Teacher Developed - ma aerials; Teaching Techniques iDENTIFIERS *Central Anerica- ABSTRACT This activity is one of a series of 17 teacher-deV41oped instructional activities for geograppy at the secondary-grade level described in SO G09 140. Through a simulation," students develop an undertanding of subsistence agriculture in Central America and how it is influenced by cultural and physical factors. During four 50-minute class pelriods, students "live" for ten years on a subsistence-level farm, make informeddecisions on crops they would plant, calculate profits and losses, and discover some reasons for resulting differences in profits and losses over the ten years. DrXwing a "chance" card adds an element of uncertainty tad each farmer's success. During the simulation students read laps of topography, climate and soil and use tables to calculate crop yields and prices. A postgame evaluation session facilitates verbal input by students. .(DB) *********#***********************.************************************** Documens acquired by,ERIC,include many informal unpublished * materials not available fron other sources. ERIC makes every effort *. * to obtain the best copy available. Nevertheless, items of marginal * ' -* reproducibility are often. encountered and this affects the quality *, * of the microfiehe and hardcopy reproductions ERIC makes available§ * * via the ERIC Do6ument Reproduction Seriice CEDES). EbEIS is not * responsible for the quality of the original document. Reproductions * * supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made.from the original. * ********************vf************************************************* U 1 OE PARTIAL1FT OFMEAL.TK EOUCATPOW i FFELJF AR E stATIOKAL OtSTITUTE OF EOUCATiOu T.<5 Do0C1.01 VT *0.S SEEKREP Ro. RO/ OuC-EO -EXACTLY ASRECEntEO I ME PE R0/4 OR ORC.AwizATFON 02.0,A. POtu TS Or yEvr OR °PmozorS oc; 4/ REPRE- STL'EO DO WO/fraTtOW.4. AECESSAR&LY twST.TUTE OF SENT OF National Council for Geographic Education EC:WIA 10.4.4iOS,00.4 02204CV r. 7. g.4 gm V. vLEF g feettO F1CMC ME. e. Copyright 1975 INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES SERIES IA/S-17 Ea s..77. 2/.4.21 tvE%*, D..s_ ".'7E D.'', DE 'Eh/ SE *, RV} 9E2V THE SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE GAME: t-F-.E17 P.P t*,...f A SIMULATION OF FARMING by Tom Martinson Vern Harnapp Department of Geography Director, Institute of and International Studies- - University. of Akron Ball State University Akron, Ohio Muncie iana: The majority of the world's farme.rs areinvOlved.in subsistence agrjculture. This simulation game emphasizes the conditions associatedwith thig economic activity by allowing students to take on the role offarmers in Central America. Realistic conditions and economic pressures areclearly portrayed as students 'live" for ten years on asubsistence level farm. O TEACHER'S PACKET Guide to Use of Game Educational Objectives: The.Subsistence Agriculture Game allows students to takethe role of subsistence farmers in Central America and experiencethe economic pressures facedby tide farmers, The experience will lead students to'anunderstanding <t of why subsistence agriculture persists in manypartsof Central America. Thb role of students in the game is three-foldyto1) make informed-. decisions on the crops they 45._AubsiSien.c.e_fatmers inCentral America, would plant in their fields, 2) calculate the profits and losses on the sale of their crops to- area- markets, and 3) disCover some reasonsfor the resulting ;!tD,- differences in crop profits and losses over the. year's thegamesis in operation. Student decisions on what crops to plant would bebased in part on information gained during class, discussions of the physicaland cultural "controls" over agriculture which are apparent during the gameoperation. Specific consideration should be Oven to "controls" suchas'climate, soils, 2- 2 andlandformsas well as such economic factors as transpoirtation distances and- freight rates. Players: OP' Any nuribefi!.M,.pla rs can playthe game, however, with large numbers, the playing time will'be /itreased somewhat. If the class is deemed to be too large to have eachtutunt take therole of an individual.farmer, the teacher can have two students act as a team in the farming operation. Playing Time This may be varied at the discretion of the individual instructor. The e? ire game can be completed'in four class periods of 50 minutes each. Pre- vious experience with the game indicates that these periods should be arranged consecutively. By using a consecutive sequence interest is kept at a peak until completion of the game. 4 Playing Procedure: 1. Hand out materials to the .$tudents. These materials are in the Student Packet and include introductory material, profit and loss sheets, departamento maps of each individual country,' soil and Climate maps for the region, a table of yields in pounds per acre, and a set of guidelines forthe farm profit and loss report. 2. Briefly explain the win crit4rion for ttie game-- to maximize profits lover a 10 year period through the wise selection of crops. The winner is the person wtio at the end of 10 years (10 rounds ofplayl has the largest profit. In a sense each player may feel that he has "won" having done the bestthat he could with-his farming conditions. 3. Have students select their farm sites. There are two ways this may - be done: 1) by chance drawing, or 2) Pre-selection by students. If the chance method of, selection is chosen, prior to the. start of the gamenumbered Cites should, be located on the base niap of Central America.' Thebdse map inpded in this package can be made into 4 transparency for greater easein viewing. Upon draviing-a numbered bite the student should consult the various' maps for location in terms of country,department°, distancefrom the de- partamento capital in miles, climatic zone, soil Zone, and whetherhe-iTloca- ted op a road. If the farm is located on a road the -mode of for croRs will be via truck or bus at the rate of$.0001 per pound mile. If the farm is'not located on a road transport will be via burro at the rateof $.0003 per pound mile. All of the 6regoing information should then be re- corded on the Farm Economic Profile sheet found in the Student Packet. The other Theihod of farm site selection mould be for students to select their own sites based on their knowledge of soil and climatic conditions in Central 'America. They then record the basic i.nformation as listed above on the Farm Economic Profile sheet. 1 . /. 4. Next, players select the crops which they will plant on their ten acres of land. Initially they may plant corn, beans, or rice, alone or in . g L combination of one acre plots, up to ten acrestotal. 4cided upon, the actionportion 5. -Once the acreage in.trops has been is ghat has happefledin thefirst of the game labgins. The instructor now re in the various zones using year with respect tocropyields for varioucrop rcentage variation in Yearly the information giyen on thecharts entitled, " yields using this Crop Yields, 1960 -1970." -;fie students them calculate their informatibn and the table entitled "Guidelinesfor DeterminingYeaTtly Crop pounds per crop Yields" from their packet. This will then tell, them how many pounds times the cost perpound to t they grew. Next they will multiply the produce each crop idn order to determinethis expense. The production cost for each crop;Next they per pound for each cropis on the information sheet market will take total poundage and multiplyit.times the number ofWles to transporting 8,000 pounds times the freight rate. For example, if a farmer is $.0003 for 15 miles to market by burro hewould multiply 8,000 times 15 times therysum.transport and a total transportcost of $36.00. The. students should' ,production costs in order to arrive atthe total expense for the year. the class has made the necessary When he instructor determines that 6. in the five calculations he should reveal themarket, price for various crops "Price Per Pound for cduntries using the informationfrom the sheet entitled ,Students can then calculate theincome they -44 Selected Central American Cr6ps." poUnd times pounds of received for their produceby multiplying price per from income and theresults crops produced. Expenses should then be subtracted should be recorded. Now comes a surprise elementin the game: involves having each studentdraw a'card 7. The final part of the round following instructions printed onthe.card. frot the chance-pile and then normal year and no Three things can happeh. One,.the farmer will havehad a. have further expenses willbe incurred.Two, something unfortunate will profits. happened in whiCh case an unexpected expensewill be deducti8 froth will be added Third, something fortunatewill have occurred'and some money (round) one and students will be able to profits.'This marks the end of year All data should be recorded on to see how they _fared forthe first year. profit and loss sheets foreach year. students select . 8. 'The next 9 roundsfollow the same pattern in Aid and '"income, and drawa chancecard. 'Students may crops, calculate expenses enough change crops as they see fit andadd tobacco, 'cotton, and'coffee wheR capital has been accumulated. Remember:' When the latter three crops are planted.