Designing In-Class Simulations

‘Vegelate’ and Greece: Teaching the EU through Simulations

“…The scores on the in-class essays, exams and writing assignments all suggest the benefits of active learning suggested by Smith and Boyer (1996). There seems to be evidence that they did engage in the material and develop their speaking and presentation skills.…”

“…Stice (1987) has argued that learning occurs in four stages: concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. Furthermore, Smith and Boyer (1996) have suggested that there are five goals for active learning: giving students a deeper level of insight into the political process; encouraging rfran@francartoons.com european political science: 12 2013 'vegelate' and greece students to be more attentive and more active in the learning process; helping students retain information for longer periods of time; allowing students to develop critical thinking and analytical skills through collaborative efforts; and enabling students to develop speaking and presentation skills. It remains the case, though, that the vast majority of political science classes in the US are delivered quite traditionally, usually through lecture (Hartlaub and Lancaster, 2008), where the opportunities for active learning are often eschewed.…”

“…Even though some researchers have noted that they may not be effective (Kille, 2002;Prince, 2004;Rochester, 2003), or that they need to be better assessed (Grosen and Washbush, 2004), the twin goals of engagement and knowledge acquisition are central to explaining the usefulness of simulations in the political science classroom (Caruson, 2005;Smith and Boyer, 1996;Wakelee, 2008), However, Frederking (2005, as well as Shellman and Turan (2006), have argued that active learning through simulations enhanced student learning and noted that their courses student learning outcomes were met and the students gained knowledge of key theories and concepts of international relations. Enterline and Jepsen (2009) have found that, when given a postsimulation semi-structured survey, the students reported high levels of satisfaction with the exercise and, more importantly, came away with a deeper understanding of concepts related to international relations.…”

Byzantine Politics: Using Simulations to Make Sense of the Middle East

“…Simulations make the real world relevant by allowing students to recreate through their own experiences the multiple and often countervailing interests, pressures, and constraints which international actors find themselves subject to everyday. This offers students "the best understanding of political processes short of actually being involved in them" (Smith and Boyer 1996).…”

Beyond the “Babel Problem”: Defining Simulations for the Social Studies

“…When a teacher uses this strategy in an intentional way they can bring "chaos…back into reality" (Duke, 2011, p. 348). In the case of simulations, the specified domain is centered around understanding dynamic systems or human phenomena in as realistic a way as is pedagogically useful in order to ensure -through the use of carefully crafted debriefing exercises -that the learning is focused rather than haphazard (Crookall, 2010;DeLeon, 2008;Gillespie, 1973;Smith & Boyer, 1996). The presence of a teacher with a clear vision of learning has the ability to redirect students in ways that enable them to draw important lessons from the simulation that they may not arrive at if left to their own devices (see Feinberg et al (2013) and WrightMaley (2014)).…”