Abstract
This case study reflects advising a Warhammer Alliance club at a private Northern California Middle School and the observations of American middle schoolers. From collaborative storytelling, low risk/high rewards probability models, and the exploration of 41st Millennium “Grimdark” themes of Theocracy, Imperialism, and Xenophobia while promoting 21st century SEL skills of Inclusivity and Peer relations, this study will be about how the tabletop experience promotes life skills and inspiration and creativity for American Youth as a supplement and even possible substitution of Social-Emotional Learning curriculum in the classroom.
Author bio
Ben Gould is a middle school Science and Math teacher with a background in Archaeology and Anthropology. He has been teaching in Sacramento, California, for the past 11 years and loves incorporating gamification and game-based learning in his core and elective classes. Post-COVID, Ben has offering ‘Model Making’ electives in which students learn how to build, paint, and play Warhammer games while striving to study more on the positive Social and Emotional effects of game-based learning and how to incorporate that into a classroom setting. He is also an avid Warhammer painter and Dungeons and Dragons player and hobbies often on his lunch breaks.
