Robinson 1

Teacher and Tech Technology-Based Lesson Plan

Topic: Diversity and Representation in a variety of texts.

“Big Idea”: Horizon Zero Dawn video game, as part of a greater unit that explores texts from
various modalities (prose, poetry, photography, film, and video games) and how these texts
engage in a conversation about cultural representation or lack thereof.

Grade Level: Grades 11 – 12.

Unit: English/Global Issues (can be adapted to either one)

Materials: Graphic organizers for textual elements of Fall Out/Horizon Zero Dawn, Tic Tac Toe
graphic organizers for small group/whole group discussion on representation in video games, PC
version of Horizon Zero Dawn video game (2017).

Social Media Kids topic: Combination of Web access/information as a cultural hegemony or a

melting pot – reducing diversity?/Ethics/Identity

Goal of today’s lesson: Connections to Manitoba ELA

 To introduce students to the idea that
video games can be interpreted as a
“text” that they can read, and how
video games can be interpreted as
stories in terms of organization and
components.
 Secondly, I would like to explore the
ways that texts as a whole (including
video games) are improving in the area
of representing non-white people, but
that there are still opportunities for
improvement.
 Discussing the ways that representation
in technology and media is important
for all people, and the reasons behind
why this is important.
Activating:
 Begin class by discussing what kind of
video games students play. Have a
casual conversation about why they like
certain kind of games, the reasons
behind why video games are
entertaining or can be difficult to stop
playing.
 Introduce the idea to students that video
games can be interpreted as a story, or a
curriculum:
 Exploring the ways that stories are
constructed, especially in non-
traditional ways.
 Exploring the ways that texts can be
multi-modal. Capitalizing on students’
appreciation for video games to make
class more stimulating and relatable.
 Using technology as a means of
engaging students as well as appealing
to visual and kinesthetic learners in my
classroom.
What students are doing:
 Participating in discussion about video
games.
 Participation in class-wide discussion
and example of organizing a video
game into a piece with textual
elements. (eg: plot points, characters,
setting, etc.)
 Jotting down quick example info about
the textual elements of Fall Out in a

1

text. Based on student feedback, craft
an example of how a popular video
game has textual elements. (eg:
organize on the board ways that Fall
Out has recognizable plot points,
detailed setting, character development,
etc.)
Acquiring:
 Using a PC version of the Horizon Zero
Dawn, allow students to take turns
playing the role of the main character in
the game. They can participate using
my computer, and the game will be
displayed on the SmartBoard.
 Once initial engagement with the video
game is complete, I will begin a
discussion on the types of characters
within Horizon Zero Dawn. We will
discuss the types of characters that are
white/minority, and the engage in some
essential questions about representation
in texts.
Applying:
 For this part of the class, we will start
to choose one section of the textual
elements (character representation) and
look deeper into it.
 Horizon Zero Dawn includes a lot of
diverse characters into its story, and so
it a great example for students how to
include multiple cultures and multiple
perspectives into a story.
 After students complete their small
group inquiry questions, we will
conduct a large group discussion about
each character in the story, looking at
how well other cultures are represented
in this particular video game, and
perhaps some issues that arise due to
creative representation of culture.
Assessment (in class):
 Participation in class discussion is a
must.
Robinson 2
graphic organizer. They can keep this
graphic organizer (which also has
definitions for elements of a story) for
future use with other types of texts.
 As other students are playing the game,
the rest of the class takes down jot
notes in their graphic organizers about
the textual elements of the game,
including (but not limited to):
 Important plot points (such as
introduction, rising action, climax,
falling action, denoument, resolution)
 Character development, both when
we meet them and later on in the story
(showing character growth & change).
 Details of the setting, how this impacts
the overall tone and mood of the story,
and how the setting is especially vivid
in video games.
 Students will be split into small groups
to discuss the kinds of characters within
the video game. Each group will be
given their own character to study.
 They will be given a series of inquiry
questions (plus a requirement to think
of 2 of their own inquiry questions) to
guide their discussion. Examples of
these questions could include:
 What culture does this character appear
to be from? What is their role in the
story (is it major or minor)? Are there
aspects to their costume, attitude,
spoken language, etc. that could be
interpreted as stereotypical and/or
tokenized? Why?
 Students will record their ideas in a
“Tic Tac Toe” graphic organizer to
include their own ideas, and to record
the ideas of other groups once we begin
our whole-class discussion.
2
 Robinson 3

Assessment (ongoing):  This class will introduce students to the

 Completion of in-class graphic
organizer (both for Fall Out and
Horizon Zero Dawn)
 Completion of journal questions related
to representation.
 Beginning this class, we will look at the
Big Idea of “Representation in Texts &
the Media”, and students will be
eventually start an inquiry project on
this topic.
 Eventually, we will connect the issue of
representation in video games to the
bigger question of representation in
texts, generally. This same
investigation can apply to novels, the
English canon, the media, Hollywood,
etc.
topic of representation in texts AND
representation in the media at the same
time. In this way, students can
understand how representation is
important not only in popular culture,
but also in visual media.
 Looking more specifically at character
development, students will choose a
video game of their choice (or film, if
they prefer) and look into the ways that
diverse peoples are represented in the
piece. This inquiry project will be
predominantly student-led and will be
an “investigation” into the culture of
underrepresentation of diversity in
media and technology.

References
Polo, S. (2017). Horizon Zero Dawn’s racial diversity is no mistake. Polygon. Retrieved from
https://www.polygon.com/2017/12/11/16747732/horizon-zero-dawn-story-diversity-
spoilers

Ramanan, C. (March 2017). The video game industry has a diversity problem—but it can be
fixed. The Guardian [online version]. Retrieved from:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/15/video-game-industry-diversity-
problem-women-non-white-people

Stuart, K. (July 2017). Why diversity matters in the modern video games industry. The Guardian
[online version]. Retrieved from:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jul/18/diversity-video-games-industry-
playstation-xbox

Windom, J. (2018). Level Up: Using video games in the classroom. Rubicon. Retrieved from:
https://www.rubicon.com/level-using-video-games-classroom/

Horizon Zero Dawn Wikia. Retrieved from: http://horizonzerodawn.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline