Playing a 2 Player Strategy Game on an iPad

I have been working on incorporating more computational thinking skills into my curriculum.  

Some skills that my students need to develop are:

Learn to work together to figure out how to solve problems.

Develop partnership skills:  taking turns, working together, resolve conflicts.

I chose to incorporate a 2 player strategy games using mobil devices to enhance team work skills that students are having a difficult time developing.  These skills are much needed in today's workplace.

My class played "New World Colony" as a 2 person game rather than playing against the computer. The game play is very similar to a traditional board game. The task was for the students to work with their partner to figure out the best strategies to play the game.  The things we learned from playing the game are:
1.  Many students need to develop their partnership skills.
2. This game gives a lot of directions at the beginning which makes it harder to figure out the strategies.
4.  Students preferred to play an iPad game rather than a board game.
4.  We advise game writers to give directions as players "level up" in a game, rather than all the directions in the beginning of a game.  The students quickly recognized that is easier to learn a game that introduces new concepts as you “level up”.
5.  This was a fun learning experience that the students would like to continue to at home.
6.  Kids can engage in computational thinking strategies from evaluating games and designing their own games.

I believe this was a successful lesson.  Many students said they wold play the game again at home. Some students even requested to play the game again in another class.