This weekend I attended the Teaching and Learning Conference in Baltimore, MD (put on by the American Political Science Association). Although I was there exhibiting The Civic Mirror, I also had the extreme priviledge of sitting in on the “Simulations and Role Plays” track which consisted of a group of 20+ political scientists who discussed that very topic – as it pertains to the teaching and learning of political science – all weekend long. Here were some of the outstanding thoughts and ideas coming out of the track:
How Much Should the Educator Guide the Simulated Experience?
Professor William Cunion, from Mount Union College, opened the track by posing the question every experiential educator faces: “How much should I guide and focus the student-led learning experience?” In his paper he discusses this dilema where, on the one hand, 1) Focusing student attention on targeted learning objectives runs the risk of preventing other, unexpected kinds of learning from occuring, but, on the other hand, 2) Not focusing attention on intended learning objectives runs the risk of having fewer students obtain the targeted learning objectives. A great question, and one I think every experiential educator needs to keep in mind [To read Dr. Cunion’s paper, which explains what I’m trying to summarize 100-times better, click this link, then click the “browse” button on the left, then select the “Simulations” track, and then go to page 2].
Civil War Simulation
Professor Rex Brynen, from McGill University, created and runs a peace-keeping simulation called Brynania in his political science course every year. Talk about making education meaningful! This simulation generates over 10,000 emails in a week; his100 seat peace-keeping course fills up within 7 minutes after online course registration opens (at midnight, no less), and for the week that the simulation runs, his students spend – on average – 12 hours a day working on it. McGill anyone?
EuroSim
Asst. Professor Rebecca Jones, from Widener University, runs EuroSim with her students every year, a simulation of the governing process of the European Union. What was equally interesting was her recently published paper (in the Journal of Political Science Education) which discusses and references research that validates how experiential learning activities (like simulations) can dramatically improve student learning in the following ways:
- motivation and interest,
- cognitive knowledge,
- affective learning (e.g. empathy),
- student interaction patterns, and
- world view.
Fantasy Congress
Professor Jennifer Hora, from Valparaiso University, discussed a Fantasy Congress simulation that she ran in her 300-level Congress course. The idea is that students research and draft U.S. Congresspersons in hopes that they will score lots of points by drafting and passing legistlation, participating in committee reports, etc. in the real and live U.S. Congress. It’s like fantasy sports … but the sport is the legislation and the athletes are politicians. Just listening to Jennifer talk about her students’ excitement and enthusiasm about congressional current events was enough to sell me. What a great example of making education meaningful for students!
