SALEM WITCHCRAFT DOT GAME ACIVITY

Experiential Exercise
Phase 1: Playing the Dot Game

1 Understand the intent of the activity. This activity is designed to allow students to experience the
suspicion of witchcraft in Salem, Mass during the late 1600s. While playing the Dot game, students try to
form groups that exclude a targeted group of students. In the process, they learn how accusations created
suspicion and fear during this era. Make sure you prepare your students for successful activities like this
by establishing a trusting environment. Read over the activity directions carefully and be sure it meets
your student needs.

2 Before class, prepare materials.

• Cut a small slip of paper for each student. Make a small red dot on eight of the slips. Leave the other
slips blank.
• Fold all the slips so the dots are not visible.
• Have a small stack of pink sticky notes within easy reach for the game. (Note: These are used to
symbolize the fact that once accused, it became very difficult for people to reestablish their innocence.)

3 Project Slide Share: Dot Game Directions and prepare students for the game. Ask students to
examine the preview slide and share as many responses as they can with a neighbor. Ask for a few
responses. Tell students that they will now experience and the anti-witchcraft anxieties in the colonies
during the late 1600s. First they will play a game in which they will form groups based on students’ secret
identities. Review the directions for the game, allowing time for questions. You may mention that there
are more nondots than dots, but do not reveal the exact numbers. (Note: Consider heightening interest in
the game by offering points or other prizes to the winners.)

4 Have students play the game. Follow these guidelines:

• Give each student one slip of paper.
• Allow students approximately seven minutes to move around the room, question one another, and form
groups.
• Require that groups stand apart from one another so that people can easily tell who is in each group.
• Remind students to report any suspected dots to you. Tag students accused of being dots by placing a
sticky note on their shoulder.
• If students are slow to initiate accusations, sow seeds of distrust by whispering to some students, “I
think (another student’s name) is a dot.”
• Expect some students to feel anxious or uncomfortable about the accusations and scapegoating that
occur as students form groups.

5 Determine the winners. When time is up, have students stop questioning each other. Starting with the
smallest group, have students unfold their slips of paper to reveal who is a dot. Declare the winners as (1)
the members of the largest group that does not have a dot member and (2) any dots who are the only dot
members of their groups (of at least two people).

6 Debrief the experience. Ask these questions:

Nondots: How did you feel when you discovered you were not a dot? What methods did you use to
determine who was a dot?
Dots: How did you feel when you discovered you were a dot? How did you convince others that you were
not a dot?
Everyone: For those accused of being a dot, how did it feel? Was it harder to be accepted into a group
once you had been tagged? Given that there was no way to know for sure who was a dot, why did you try
so hard to convince others that certain class members were dots? What emotions fueled this activity? Can
you think of any time in history when something like this occurred?

Tell students that this activity was designed to allow them to experience the witchcraft hysteria and
suspicion of the late 1600s in the American colonies and that they will now research to learn more about
this time period.

7 Have Students Create T-Chart: Dot Game Historical Connections and guide students in
comparing the classroom experience with history.
Have the students construct two column heads (Dot Game on the left, Historical Connection on the right).
Using the slide, share, reveal the first element in the “Dot Game” column, and ask what it might represent
about life in the early colonies. After students present a few ideas, reveal the corresponding entry in the
“Historical Connection” column. Challenge the students to work together using Wikipedia and other
resources to find a historical connection to the remaining bullet points for the Dot Game. (A possible site
for research is http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/salem/salem.htm ) After you give pairs
10-15 minutes to work on their T-Chart, debrief the remaining points as a class and then ask them:
• On a scale from 1 to 10, how concerned do you think colonists should have been about the possibility of
witchcraft in the colonies?
• Do you think the colony leaders had the right to put suspected witches on trial? Why or why not?