Introduction

The Woodlands is an immersive, engaging and playful place where kids learn about early American history. Kids will explore a fantasy-like world filled with games and adventures and develop avatars that have homes, jobs, and pets.

As they explore and play, however, players will encounter facts and stories about the real people who lived in North America from 1600 to 1776. Players will collect facts about people, events, plant and animals, and amazing stories about everyday life. In order to progress and reach new areas of The Woodlands, they will have to take quizzes and earn Keys. These will, in turn, unlock more exciting spaces filled with new facts and stories.

Central to this experience is a simple and intuitive interface where kids can create and customize their own avatars with garments, skin tone, facial features, hair-styles and more. Players advance through levels and environments in the world by earning points through activities such as getting exposed to learning content and taking appropriate assessments, solving puzzles and accumulating skills, knowledge, tools, artifacts, and friends. Exploring The Woodlands is and exciting opportunity to learn about history in an interactive and collaborative way. Kids will also strengthen their judgment, critical thinking, and social skills while playing the game

In Environment 1, players will explore a world set in the Mid-Atlantic Woodlands of America in the early part of the 19th century. Players will choose an occupation (woodsperson or fisherperson) and correspondingly get either a cabin in the woods or a hut on the beach as their home. They’ll encounter animals (fauna) and plants (flora) from the woodlands and meet historical figures from this era.

The sights and sounds of the woodlands will transport your students to a different time and place, engaging them as they attempt to successfully navigate this new world. They will earn points as they get exposed to learning content, take assessments, and earn badges. They will learn to communicate and collaborate, engage in creative activities, and learn to problem solve individually and collectively.

The Woodlands gives Players opportunities to demonstrate character, creativity, communication, and collaboration while learning interesting facts from this historical setting.

The Woodlands is intended for students from K through 4th grade (5-10-year-olds). In addition, your knowledge of your students’ abilities will help determine if Naaya is appropriate for them.

Your students will need to know how to type their usernames and passwords, so they can log into the site and send messages or write journal entries. They’ll also need to know how to use the mouse to maneuver their avatar through the environment and click on objects. A text-to-speech feature reads information presented about flora and fauna as well as other instructions provided within the game.

The game can be played through any web browser with Adobe Flash Player plug-in installed.

System requirements for playing the game include:

• Mac (OS: 10.5+, CPU: 1.83GHz, RAM: 512 MB)
• PC (OS: XP/VISTA/Windows 7; CPU: 1 GHz; RAM: 512 MB; Direct X: 9)
• Screen: 1024 x 768 or higher resolution
• Adobe Flash Player 10 or higher

Browsers supported for the game will include:

• Safari 4 or higher
• Internet Explorer 8 or higher
• Mozilla Firefox 3 or higher

This game is best experienced in a multi-computer classroom or computer lab. Players typically spend 30-45 minutes per session and will need 8 weeks to successfully complete the tasks in Environment 1 and move onto Environment 2. It is also recommended that you encourage Players to log in from home to work on tasks during the week and to perform functions that they might not have completed during the class lesson.

You do not need to have mastered Environment 1 to facilitate the experience for your students. Reviewing this Teacher’s Guide will provide you with the basic information you need to get started. The guide will serve as a reference as your students navigate through the environment and ask questions. While much of the game is intuitive and kid-friendly, Players may experience doubts when they are unsure of where to go or what to do next. You can assure them that their understanding of the game will improve each time they play, and new information and new skills are unlocked as they score points. Part of the goal is to let them explore and figure things out on their own. But if they are stuck at any point information in this guide will help you direct them. NOTE: The game also has built in tutorials to help the Players.

Consider helping them log in for the first time, after providing them with their usernames and passwords. If you are working with students individually, review basic information about how to set up an avatar, navigate through the environment, and read the Heads-Up Display. You can find more information about each of these topics within this guide. Teachers can also demonstrate the basics of the game with a group of students. If you have a projector or SmartBoard, display your computer screen and show the students how to log in for the first time and begin navigating their new environment. Section 5 and 6 of this manual provide lesson ideas and reproducible worksheets to help guide your students through The Woodlands.