Anecdotal evidence suggests pedagogy research on simulations in political science is dominated by two subfields: International Relations and Comparative Politics. This belief may stem from the widespread use of things like Model United Nations and Model Arab League or the popular game Statecraft. While some other subfields, notably public law,…

Approaching literacy through a human rights lens potentially equips children with the courage and support needed to face sources of human suffering; develop compassion for others; and identify obstacles to their sentience, autonomy, and well-being. A human rights view of literacy pedagogy necessarily involves attending to the moral reasoning of…

Given the increasing prevalence of podcast listening, especially among young adults with college education, it is important to consider how student-produced podcasts can impact the student experience in the classroom, contribute to a more participatory course, and help achieve learning objectives. To engage these issues, this article reflects on…

Research suggests that America today is more politically polarized and less capable of conducting civil public discourse than at least the last several decades. These greater cultural factors unsurprisingly seem to have trickled into American schools, as teachers report increased divisiveness and conflict, particularly directed toward…

The climate strikes of 2019, an extraordinary worldwide phenomenon, swiftly and succinctly showed the world the collective concern of youth. What insights might curriculum planning for climate-change education and classroom pedagogy gain from these climate strikes? Preliminary findings from this study identified four significant considerations in…

While the effects of simulation-based courses on the knowledge of participating students may be marginal in relation to standard lecture and discussion-based courses, this article argues that the greatest leverage is gained by increasing participating students' level of interest in the subject of study and in politics more broadly. Participants…

Purpose: Increasing students' political interest has been a longstanding goal of civic education. One way to trigger students' interests in political issues is by engaging them first in an attention grabbing activity (i.e., assigning them to roles). Because it is important to examine not only how roles may trigger political interest, but also…

In teaching the causes of the Iraq War, the use of "virtual history" can be employed in a conference setting in which different individuals are assigned to different plausible counterfactuals they use to construct virtual histories. The Iraq War lends itself to the virtual history approach because of the availability of many plausible…

To understand world politics, one must appreciate the context in which international systems develop and operate. Pedagogy studies demonstrate that the more active students are in their learning, the more they learn. As such, using computer simulations can complement and enhance classroom instruction. CIVILIZATION is a computer simulation game…

This article explores to what extent citizenship education for lifelong learning should be based on a more "political" or civic republican conception of citizenship as compared to a liberal individualist conception, which emphasizes individual rights, or a communitarian conception, which emphasizes moral and social responsibilities. It…

Structured classroom debates (SCDs), whereby teams of students debate a question prepared outside of class, help advance two goals many political science instructors struggle to achieve with their students: classroom participation beyond the "usual suspects" present in every classroom and critical thinking and analysis of political issues. This…

Students are well served by course simulations that employ active learning styles and student-driven interaction. For debate on political issues, particular public policies are quite effective in stimulating that discussion. We developed an in-class simulation of political debate on the issue of Social Security. We describe the simulation itself,…

This paper describes a pedagogical technique employed for an interdisciplinary course on Cold War America. Students had to "become" a fictional person and discuss how political and social changes during the Cold War era would have impacted that person. By doing a semester-long project that required primary source research, this…

Presents a classroom simulation that employs active learning to introduce students to congressional politics using the national issues of the Gilded Age. Explains that the students are divided into groups in order to simulate the U.S. Senate and then discuss, amend, and vote on legislation. Provides four detailed simulation options. (CMK)

Provides background information on simulations and active learning. Discusses the use of simulations in political science courses. Describes a simulation exercise where students performed specific institutional role playing, simulating the workings of a single congressional issue network, based on the reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act.…