Frequently Asked Questions
- How long do you play the Farming Game?
- When should you play the Farming Game in the curriculum?
- Is Reap™ a stand-alone curriculum?
- Won’t there too many questions to answer if every student has different numbers?
- Isn’t it a nightmare to grade the worksheets and financial statements if the students all have different numbers?
- What if I have questions?
- Why would students not want to play the Farming Game?
- What is on the CD?
- How many CDs will I need?
- Is the Farming Game like Monopoly?
- Is playing a board game in the classroom a gimmick?
- Do I need to follow the rules of the Farming Game?
- How many students can play around one board?
1. How long do you play the Farming Game?
Reap with The Farming Game should be considered as a 3-week unit of instruction (50-minute period). A 3-week unit would work for the Introductory or Capstone Experiences. Some teachers choose to play the game every Friday throughout the semester and try to help students apply the concepts they learned earlier in the week. Other teachers use the Farming Game as a motivator and they let students play it as reward days to help them review and reinforce their management and decision-making skills.
2. When should you play the Farming Game in the curriculum?
Reap with the Farming Game can be played in three ways throughout the curriculum: (1) an introductory experience to create interest, felt need, and basic business literacy; (2) application experiences after key concepts have been introduced and students need to practice applying the specific concepts (e.g., investing = students can practice purchasing assets and calculating ROI; financing = students can learn different types of loan structures and borrowing capacity); application experiences should occur throughout the course or school year; and, (3) a capstone, summary, or review experience; this gives students the opportunity to apply everything they learned in a business management course and try to apply several concepts at once in managing their own businesses using the board game.
3. Is Reap™ a stand-alone curriculum?
Although Reap is a stand-alone unit of instruction, it was designed as a learner-centered teaching method (simulation) to help make learning more active within an previously existing curriculum. Reap should be used as an active learning tool with an existing business management curriculum.
4. Won’t there too many questions to answer if every student has different numbers?
The teacher needs to remember his/her role is a facilitator. The teacher also needs to state that they play the role of a CPA. If the students get help from the CPA, then they will need to “pay” for the assistance through consultant fees (expense) or point deductions on the worksheets. If the Transaction Register Worksheet is worth 10 points per fiscal year, then one point could be deducted for each error, or $500 could be charged to the business. Students will try to solve their problems before asking the teacher. Also, the students should be encouraged to ask their neighbors for assistance in finding the mistakes. Isn’t this what friends do in the business world? It’s a great way to make the game a friendly competition.
5. Isn’t it a nightmare to grade the worksheets and financial statements if the students all have different numbers?
Not at all. The beauty of students having different figures on their worksheets is that they cannot copy from their neighbors. Grading is very easy because of double-entry accounting. When the worksheets are completed correctly, the numbers will match in several places (e.g., profit/loss = change in owner’s equity; ending owner’s equity = owner’s equity in the balance sheet; total assets = liabilities + OE in the balance sheet)
6. What if I have questions?
The Facilitator Guide was designed to answer every question that would likely arise in a classroom setting when playing the game. However, if you still have questions about Reap, you may call the toll-free number at 866-855-REAP for customer assistance.
7. Why would students not want to play the Farming Game?
Why wouldn’t students want to play a board game? This would be very unusual. However, there are two possible times when students might complain: (1) when you ask them to play with worksheets and they prefer paper money; and, (2) when their worksheets do not balance because they made a mistake…however, this is what the real-world is like and they will learn more my finding their mistakes.
The CD has everything you will need. The Facilitator’s Guide is on the CD as a PDF. If teachers do not want to print it off, they can order a printed and bound Facilitator’s Guide for $49.95 with the CD. However, the printed Facilitator’s Guide is on the CD as a PDF. The CD also has the following: (1) PowerPoint presentations for each of the 7 chapters; (2) an Excel spreadsheet of the Transaction Register Worksheet, 3 Financial Statements, and Financial Ratios; (3) Learning Resources, including a handout with all 14 debit/credit transactions in the game; (4) a Study Guide for all 7 chapters with answer key; and (5) a 200-item test bank with answer key. The teacher resources were packaged on a CD so teachers could copy and paste or change the files to fit their students and locality.
One teacher needs one CD. The resources on the CD are licensed to the single teacher who purchased the CD. It is illegal to use the CD beyond the single-teacher who purchased the CD.
10. Is the Farming Game like Monopoly?
Some people think that the Farming Game is like Monopoly because it is a square board and you move the player pieces around the four sides. However, the Farming Game is NOT the same as Monopoly. Monopoly is a zero-sum game. This means that someone will win at other players’ expense. The Farming Game is NOT a zero-sum game. Everyone can grow in network with good decision-making and a little luck at rolling the dice.
11. Is playing a board game in the classroom a gimmick?
No. Reap was designed based on the practical experience of a high school teacher and his research expertise of learner-centered teaching. Learner-centered teaching is more difficult to teach than being teacher-centered. Reap provides teachers a complete set of tools to allow the board game to become the “lesson plan” and students will ask questions to drive the instruction. Playing the board game simulates what happens in the real-world of business, which matches more closely with how the brain learns. Reap was designed on brain-based learning principles.
12. Do I need to follow the rules of the Farming Game?
The rules are a starting point. Teachers should feel free to change them as they see best for the instructional objectives. Some teachers have found that using a democratic process to change the rules of the game is a great way for students to practice their parliamentary procedure skills.
13. How many students can play around one board?
Up to 6 students. There are 6 color-coded players in each Farming Game box. There should be at least 3 players per board and no more than 6. Students should eventually play as individually players to fully grasp the accounting and business management process. See the following table to determine how many board games you’ll need for your classroom.
* If you already have enough games, you’ll just need Reap (the Facilitator’s Guide CD)
* If you have 1 to 6 students, you’ll need Reap + 1 Farming Game
* If you have 7 to 11 students, you’ll need Reap + 2 Farming Games
* If you have 12 to 18 students, you’ll need Reap + 3 Farming Games
* If you have 19 to 24 students, you’ll need Reap + 4 Farming Games
* If you have 25 to 30 students, you’ll need Reap + 5 Farming Games
* If you have 31 to 36 students, you’ll need Reap + 6 Farming Games