“Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” stated philosopher George Santayana. Knowing that, the eighth-grade students at the St. Marys Catholic Middle School decided to learn more about the War to end all Wars.
Mrs. Bauer’s social studies classes completed a World War I simulation on trench warfare. After studying the new weapons that technology introduced to the war and how the war was initially fought, the students participated in a trench warfare simulation.
Each student randomly selected a soldier of the war. Then in groups, they had to roll dice, pick a card, and decide on what their course of action would be taken. Depending on what they rolled and what decision they made, they were either awarded points or points were taken away from them. If they lost all their points, there were considered to be victims of the war.
Mae Schmidt one of the eighth graders, commented on the activity saying,“This was a very insightful way to experience what some of our great soldiers had to live through in World War I.”
All of the students loved the experience and learned so much more than just studying from a book!
