Student Resources:

• Government and Economy Reference Sheets 
• Scenarios (included in lesson plan)

Facilitation Notes 

• This lesson plan is designed to help students understand the game Regime. It is suggested that students participate in the learning outlined in the lesson plan prior to playing the game.  
• In the game, democracy is more specifically divided into representative and direct. Anarchy is also introduced.  

Engage 

• Ask students: “Imagine you’re starting a brand-new country. What rules would you need? Who gets to make them? How do people get resources like food and money?” 
• Put students in partners or small groups for a quick think-pair-share. Collect a few answers to show that students are thinking about types of governments and economies. 

Explore 

• Place students into groups (3–5 students). Each group represents leaders of a new society. 
• Give to each group a scenario card and reference sheets. 
• Tell students: choose one type of government and one type of economy to run their society. Write down two reasons why you’ve chosen the systems for your scenario. 
  • Scenario 1: The New Island
    Your people have fertile farmland but few other resources. You must decide how food is grown, distributed, and traded fairly. 

• • Scenario 2: The Oil Kingdom
    Your land is rich in oil, and the society is made up of owners, workers, and those outside the industry, but a small group of elites wants to control all profits. You must decide how wealth will be shared or divided.  

• • Scenario 3: The Rebuild
    After a devastating disaster, your society needs to rebuild quickly. You must decide who will lead resources and production to recover fastest. 

• • Scenario 4: The Ancient Land
    Your people have a strong sense of unity and pride in their culture. You must decide how to meet leaders’ desire for an economy that strengthens national power and loyalty above all else.  

• • Scenario 5: The Rebellion
    Most people feel poor, while a few grow very rich. The majority are is threatening rebellion. You must decide how to handle citizens’ demands for more equality in controlling and sharing resources between their demands and the rich and powerful. 

• • Scenario 6: The Trade Hub
    Your land sits on a busy trade route. You must decide how to balance merchants’ freedom and some leaders’ desire for the government to tightly control trade.  
• Give students time to discuss and record their reasoning.  
• Each group presents their “new world” in 1–2 minutes. They must explain their reasoning.  
• Optional Activity: If preferred, the scenarios can be set up in stations around the room and each group can move to each scenario. Then compare the answers of the whole class. 

 

Assess & Reflect 

• Ask students to answer the following questions as a class: 
• How have you seen governments and economic systems working together to influence people’s daily lives in the examples we studied today? 
• Which government and economic systems gave the people the most freedom and rights? Least? Why?  
• Which challenges and benefits stood out the most to you? Which do you think would impact daily life the most? 
• Based on what you learned, why might a country choose one form of government and economic system over the others?  

AND/OR 

• Students complete an exit ticket: 
• “One strength of the government/economy we chose was…” 
• “One challenge of our choice would be…” 
• “One question I still have about governments or economies is…” 

Extend 

• Have students research current or historical examples of countries that used these forms of government and economic systems.