• To model real-world production percentages of important resources through dice probability
• To construct a scaled world map and learn about area
• To utilize angles to navigate roads and ships across the map to trade with allies or attack foes
• To make decisions about countries and manage resources and relationships in an interconnected world

Each student was part of a four-person team and had a group role that changed each round. These roles varied from writing trade agreements, describing decisions to build something or attack another country, or persuading countries to trade with them. Each role developed different skills and was designed to highlight students’ varied strengths. The math problems derived from the project offered students many avenues to use evidence to arrive at an answer to a question that may not have a single, correct solution.

The trade war game often lasted for a whole semester. Adam’s class played it twice a week, and direct instruction in math took place on other days, some but not all of which was directly relevant to the game. As the game progressed, new moves required new math content, such as angles to create shipping lanes or algebra to calculate the domain and slope of missile paths. The game provided motivation to learn the necessary math.

The game can be used in a stand-alone math class or can be integrated with humanities. One year, Adam collaborated with humanities teachers in a Building Governments project, where students designed a government based on democracy, theocracy, or aristocracy; their government’s design then impacted their country’s trading activity.