Schools

Teacher Creates American Revolution Video Game

In game, Paramus High School students decide who to support in war

One teacher is putting students at the crossroads of the American Revolution with a video game he created.

In history teacher David Alloco's game, "Choosing Sides: The American Revolution in Bergen County," students play the role of John Van Dunk, a Hackensack resident living at the start of the American Revolutionary War.

Taking control of Van Dunk, students have to talk to other Bergen County citizens to help determine whether Van Dunk will be a Loyalist, siding with the British, or a Patriot, and support the upstart Americans. The game is populated with real historical figures, like the Rev. Gerrit Lydekker and his slave Thomas, and Theodosia Prevost, who lived at the site of the Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus.

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"What the kids ultimately see is that people ultimately choose sides for a host of different reasons," Allocco said.

Prevost is an example of someone who balanced competing loyalties during the war. Though she was married to a man who fought for the British, she invited George Washington to stay at her home after the Continental Congress threatened to confiscate the property of anyone loyal to the British.

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When it came time to choose sides, more students chose the British than Allocco expected, especially given the real outcome of the war. For many students, the choice came down to survival.

The British held a strong position in New York City and raided Paramus frequently. Whatever they chose, students were immersed in the decision.

"They really got into it because it's something that was presented to them in a unique way—in a 21st century way," Allocco said.

The students spent two class days playing the game. They were graded on a journal they wrote as John Van Dunk explaining their decision.

Allocco, who has a degree in advertising, said the video game was just another way of selling students on their lessons. Allocco also enjoys cartooning, and drew all the characters in the game.

He used Google Sketchup to create the settings, and the game itself can be played on Apple Keynote or Microsoft PowerPoint. The game took three summer days to create, not counting research.

Allocco hopes to create more games. He said he was considering creating a game placing students in John F. Kennedy's shoes during the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

"I think there's a lot of opportunity for it," he said.


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