Sixth-grade students in Lydia Palmer’s class at Fairplay Middle School recently spent time exploring trade, scarcity, and cooperation through the board game Catan. If you are familiar with this popular game, you probably know there is a strong connection between the themes students learn about in social studies and strategies found in the game.
In Catan, players collect resources such as sheep, brick, and wheat. They use these resources to build roads and settlements on the fictional island. The only way to gather enough resources is by trading with other players. (Or, to some people’s dismay, by stealing them!)
According to Fairplay Instructional Lead Teacher Jeremy Anderson, who joined Palmer in her 
classroom for the activity, the elements of trade and the use of resources to build and settle land tie directly to Georgia Standards. For example, “Gain from Trade” teaches that “students will understand that parties trade voluntarily when they expect to gain.”
“This is a major theme of the game, and these students are experiencing it in a way that feels authentic and memorable,” Anderson added.
Scarcity also comes into play when players run out of supplies and cannot expand their settlements until more resources become available. When a player rolls seven on the dice, they may take resources from their opponents. This firsthand experience helps them better understand the conflicts that often arise in societies competing for limited resources.
Palmer noted that the game gives students a tangible way to explore topics such as natural resources and their distribution, where people live and how they trade, factors of production, voluntary trade and specialization, and human-environment interaction. “We hope to use Catan periodically for added enrichment opportunities as we progress throughout the year,” she said
Anderson extends a heartfelt thank you to the Douglas County Education Foundation for awarding him the Classroom Impact Grant which enabled the purchase of the Catan game sets. “The experience had students laughing, groaning, and fully engaged as their societies emerged,” he said. “Catan has given them an experience they will not soon forget.”