This paper walks the reader through a simple mathematical characterization of the popular children's game, "Chutes and Ladders," focusing primarily on Monte Carlo simulation. The focus is then shifted to the board game "No Te Enojes" in order to analyze the implications of the introduction of strategy. The presence of strategy…

The "Borel" board game consists of a series of experiments involving dice rolls, coin flips, or drawing colored balls from bags. Before each experiment is conducted, each player bets for or bets against a statement regarding the random outcome. We suggest that the collection of "Borel" experiments be used as a resource to…

Scholars have developed original pedagogical approaches to impart the knowledge and skills required for professional life in the area of peace and development. Experience-based learning, simulations, games, and role-plays have been used with positive results. Yet most efforts tend to overly simplify and narrow down the learning experience in…

In this article, we report on the implementation of using the game Werewolf as a student-centered applied-learning activity to teach symbolic interaction theory and concepts. Engaging with symbolic interaction theory can be a powerful experience for students due to its potential to challenge taken-for-granted assumptions and analyze students'…

Students are typically introduced to probability through calculating simple events like flipping a coin. While these calculations can be done by hand, more complex probabilistic events, both in class and in the real world, require the use of computers. In this paper, we introduce a new tool--an R shiny web app and associated CRAN package based on…

This paper describes an investigation looking at the underlying mathematics of poker machines. The aim of the investigation is for students to get an appreciation of how poker machines are designed to ensure that in the long-term players will inevitably lose when playing. The first part of this paper describes how students can model a simple poker…

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City implemented a science-based curriculum pairing augmented reality (AR) with a student-designed escape room experience to support astronomy learning. AR has the potential to simplify complex systems into digestible concepts. Designing an escape room experience provided students with an…

Simulations are an excellent tool for teaching and have been used in many disciplines including in various subfields of political science, notably in international relations. We focus on the value of employing simulations in the classroom to complement the pedagogy surrounding political theory and related fields such as professional ethics and…

To determine the appropriate level of product availability, most operations management textbooks introduce and define service level measures in a Business-to-Customer context. In other words, a retailer that wants to measure product availability in their store calculates the fill rate (FR) or cycle service level over an infinite review horizon.…

Z402 Youth Theatre Tour was designed from a critical performative pedagogical positioning (Weltsek, 2019). Here learning emerges from how individuals and communities perform their emergent identities as they cross literal and metaphorical socio-cultural borders. Z402 resulted in a 100% student created new play, parallel workshop, and study guide.…

This paper extends the use of the Monopoly® board game as an economic simulation exercise designed to reinforce an understanding of how the accounting cycle impacts the financial statements used to evaluate management performance. This extension adds elements of debt not previously utilized to allow for an introduction of the fundamentals of ratio…

The lottery has rich potential for mathematical explorations. It serves as a real-world context to explore concepts of permutations, combinations, sample space, and probability in terms of making sense of the lottery games. The lottery offers additional possibilities in terms of scaling, data analysis, and spatial analysis. Finally, by readily…

Simulations have received considerable attention as a tool to promote problem-solving skills, intense involvement, and high-order thinking among students. Whether semester-long exercises or a single-class session, simulations are often used in areas of conflict studies, diplomatic studies, trade disputes, electoral processes, and policy and legal…

This article describes a simulation activity designed to teach students about the wage gap. The wage gap is an important topic in many sociology classrooms, but it can be difficult to convey the accumulated disadvantage experienced by women and racial/ethnic minorities to students using in-class discussions, lectures, or assigned readings alone.…

Wargames, especially on historical conflicts, do not currently play much part in the booming academic use of simulation and gaming techniques. This is despite the fact that they offer rich vehicles for active learning and interactive exploration of conflict dynamics. Constraints of time, expertise and resources do make it challenging to employ…