Making Meaning with Monopoly: The Use of Games as Pedagogical Tools to Promote Critical Media Literacy Skills in K-12 Classrooms

Abstract

This paper advances the pedagogical potential of board games to teach players essential skills (Waren, 2011). It also proposes that remixing the traditional game of Monopoly to highlight various social inequalities may serve as a useful tool to teach K-12 students how to be critically media literate while engaging with the principles of intersectionality, to better understand the world around them. Games can be considered media through which individuals communicate with one another, thus promoting a perceived sense of community. This paper's argument originates from a threefold theoretical approach. First, Ahmed’s (2006) work on orientation and disorientation proposes that board games are an effective means of educating students on critical media literacy and intersectionality, as they facilitate a deep sense of disorientation, morphing into orientation, which may both be considered foundational elements in how meaning is created. Second, Peters (2015) illustrates the roles media take on and how they are situated in our society (p. 14). Lastly, Collins (2000) highlights the necessity for alternate forms of knowledge, which seek to dismantle dominant ideologies (p. 256). The theories of these three scholars are especially pertinent to the objectives of critical media literacy, as they aptly synthesize the benefits of responsibly using media, challenging dominant knowledge and knowledge-creation practices, and finding silver linings in unfamiliar situations, for the continual development of individuals and society (Peters, 2015; Collins, 2000; Ahmed, 2006). Essentially, critical media literacy parallels the principles of intersectionality, as it invites students to use empathy to reflect on the various factors that work together to shape people’s lives (Kellner & Share, 2019; Collins & Bilge, 2016). Overall, this paper explores how Monopoly may be viewed as a medium, as it fosters communal interactions between players, which, as Ahmed (2006) implies, is necessary for the process of orientation.