The use of active learning pedagogies gives students a more applied experience and aids in the retention of material, improvement of critical thinking, and overall student satisfaction. Among these pedagogies, long-form (complex, extended) simulations provide an excellent vehicle for teaching students about the legislative process. However, these…

Simulations are traditionally divided into three phases, namely preparation, interaction, and debriefing. This article argues that the first phase has been neglected. The preparation phase is indeed widely seen as necessary but merely instrumental to the interaction phase of simulations rather than as a self-contained activity that may also…

Utilizing a web-based simulation Statecraft, we explore the relative influence of ideology (realism and idealism) on student behavior and learning. By placing students into ideologically cohesive groups, we are able to demonstrate the effect of their ideology on the goals they pursue and identify the constraints imposed on the system by the…

One of the difficulties in teaching global sustainability in the introductory political science classes is the different emphases placed on this concept and the absence of the consensus on where the overall balance between environmental protection, economic development, and social justice should reside. Like many fuzzy concepts with which students…

Teachers of political science have increasingly recognized the utility of classroom simulations to provide students with an active-learning experience to enhance learning outcomes. Our article builds on this growing trend by proposing a congressional simulation to help students understand the complexities and nuances of the lawmaking process.…

A simulation of the foreign policy decision-making process, as described in this article, can assist an instructor in linking students' abstract understanding of complex political events, circumstances, and decision making to the real-world interplay of the multiple factors involved in decision making. It is this type of active learning that helps…

The author introduces a simulation of counter-cyclical interventions that highlights important issues surrounding the practice of government intervention. The simulation provides experiential insight as to why economists have long debated the degree of persistence exhibited by disequilibrating shocks and connects this debate to discussions about…

Future studies can provide a variety of useful techniques for teachers of public administration. Three futures methods that relate to public administration are group exercises (e.g., brainstorming and a variation of the Delphi technique), classroom simulation (e.g., role playing and gaming simulation), and scenarios. (Author/CS)

Summary and evaluation of a simulation game developed for a second-year undergraduate international politics course at McMaster University, Ontario, Canada. Purpose of simulation was to provide students with insight into nature of national relations through their own participation in a similar process. (ND)

Describes an economics game for adult education designed to simulate the real world by setting up national economic policymaking in which participants can exercise their own judgment. Assesses some of the conclusions to be derived from the use of such a game. (MF)

Explains how student "companies" can be made more effective by giving them more responsibility for the way the group is run. Claims student companies will be more cohesive, and will provide students with more writing that combines the personal and professional. (MS)

Procedures for the operation of the Political-Military Exercise (PME) are detailed in this handbook as a means of involving political science students in the actual dynamics of international policy-making decisions through the PME game experience. Two basic designs for operating the simulation exercise are presented with a discussion of the format…

The issue of Intercom promotes an awareness of the world as a system that poses new possibilities and obligations for educators as well as policy makers. The first part includes interviews with and excerpts from the works of Denis Meadows, joint author of Limits to Growth; Mihajlo Mesarovic, co-author of Mankind at the Turning Point; Robert…

The Middle East decision making game has been developed to provide college level political science students with some indication of the complexities of international political situations. The central issue examined in the game is the way in which perceptions of a conflict relate to foreign policy decision. The game is divided into two sections. In…