Carcassonne: Using a Tabletop Game to Teach Geographic Concepts

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Acknowledgement

The first author thanks Joshua Rainwater for an introduction to the game and for discussing the connections among game mechanics, geographic concepts, and the potential application of Carcassonne in the classroom.

Notes

¹ The Scrambled States of America is manufactured by Gamewright. Battleship is produced by Hasbro; da Silva (2015) describes an electronic version of the venerable game along with other examples of digital games for geography teaching.

² Carcassonne is available in the United States from Z-Man Games. The base game has a list price of $34.99 and includes the river add-on tiles. Settlers of Catan is available from Catan Studios. Power Grid, Ticket to Ride, and Monopoly are available from Rio Grande Games, Days of Wonder, and Hasbro, respectively.

³ Although useful in other geography education settings, the Carcassonne game play described in this lesson focused on an AP Human Geography classroom.

⁴ This activity was funded by the Michelin Golden Apple Teacher Grant Program in 2017. Each semester, Michelin North America awards up to ten teachers in Lexington County School District One grants of up to $250 for innovative classroom projects or activities. Michelin North America has a plant located in Lexington, South Carolina, that produces tires for cars and earth movers.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Mewborne

Michael Mewborne is the Education Programs Manager for the South Carolina Geographic Alliance. He earned his Master of Arts in Teaching at the University of South Carolina and later taught World Geography and AP Human Geography at Chapin High School in Chapin, South Carolina, and River Bluff High School in Lexington, South Carolina.

Jerry T. Mitchell

Jerry T. Mitchell is the director of the Center of Excellence for Geographic Education in the Department of Geography at the University of South Carolina and Coordinator of the South Carolina Geographic Alliance. He has been Editor of the Journal of Geography since 2010.