We went to the Vartan Gregorian Elementary School a week ago to meet with Dianne Maranhas, the third/fourth grade teacher to whom we are assigned. She told us that we would be creating the program for the up and coming class, not the one she was currently teaching. She proceeded to tell us the class she was currently teaching has a first grade level reading ability and that next year’s class could not even read that well. This means there are severe limitations to the program we can create. Dianne told us that it would be okay if we created a program that was more sound-based rather than reading-based, in order to combat this predicament.

Ms. Maranhas initially stressed that she envisioned something similar to Oregon Trail. However, she was receptive to all of the other program ideas that we proposed to her (ranging from a Carmen Sandiego type program to one that was more a game show style) as long as somewhere in the program we had the map of the thirteen colonies.

Once we are done with this revised project proposal, we plan to meet up with Dianne again to run over our ideas with her again now that they are more solidified and thought out and get any feedback or changes she may have.

The following is a sketch of our prospective project and elements we would like to include in the project.

The overall idea of the game is that the student playing the game takes the role of someone (may vary) in Colonial America who must complete some task (specific to who they are, e.g. a doctor may have to go on a search to look for some medicine, a newly arrived explorer who is hired to find, say, Roger Williams' dog) In order to complete their task the player has to get clues from various people and places in the thirteen colonies.

Along their journey from colony to colony they may have to do some or all of the following:

Blend in with the local population

Talk to people in different colonies

Complete (a number of choices of) mini-puzzles in the game itself.

To get a clue you have to:

Fill in the map

Answer some questions about, for instance, that Colony

Our limitations are that the students in Ms. Maranhas's class had a low literacy level. To account for this our project will have talking advisors giving the player help along the way, in the form of a Field Book & narration. We are hoping to have sound throughout the program, accompanying any explanatory text.

The Final Reward for solving puzzle, successful mission of whatever kind will first of all be finding the thing you were looking for, be it a dog, etc. Also, there might be rewards which are specific to the occupation. If you are a farmer, perhaps you get more land, etc. Additionally there may be a high scorer's Hall of Fame for the largest number of cases solved, clues found, etc.