Wargames and crisis simulations can be useful pedagogical tools when deliberately used. This paper explores the spectrum of pedagogical objectives; what use are wargames for learning? What types of objectives can they explore? How do you align the learning objectives with the right type of game? The paper leverages Bloom's Taxonomy of learning as…

A growing literature highlights the benefits of playing the classic board game Diplomacy in international relations (IR) courses. But how exactly can it help students to learn not only about different IR theories, but also about what it means to "use" a theory in the first place? To address this question, I highlight my experiences…

The Statecraft IR simulation has received a significant amount of attention in the pedagogical literature. Some instructors have asserted that Statecraft is biased toward the behavior and learning goals of realism, calling into question the utility of the simulation as a teaching tool. Using thirteen iterations of the simulation we empirically…

This paper presents results from a comparative analysis of two sections of Introduction to International Politics, one of which used a traditional research paper as a supplemental assignment and one that used the Statecraft online simulation. Both sections were taught during the same semester and used common lecture notes, PowerPoint slides, exam…

This article uses a multimethod research design to compare Statecraft to non-Statecraft assignments and courses along three dimensions: student engagement, political attitudes, and academic honesty. The results indicate that Statecraft increased student engagement and academic honesty. In terms of political attitudes, students generally remained…