Engaging Students Through Extended Simulations

You Sunk My Constitution: Using a Popular Off-the-Shelf Board Game to Simulate Political Concepts

“…I believe these two scores once again demonstrate that simulations are useful in the class, but only insofar as they can supplement other teaching methods. They cannot wholly replace lecture and discussion, but they can ''bring to life'' (Rivera and Thomas Simons 2008) or ''season'' (Lamy 2007) those approaches (Mariani 2007;Shellman and Turan 2006;Wedig 2010), provide more ''vivid'' illustrations of a concept (Asal and Blake 2006) and serve as a nice change of pace (Caruson 2005;Endersby and Webber 1995).…”

Simulations Build Efficacy: Empirical Results from a Four-Week Congressional Simulation

“…Finally, active learning provides students with the skills needed to participate in politics and enhances their sense of internal efficacy, that is, the confidence that they have in their ability to make a difference in politics (Cammarano and Fowler 1997;Csajko and Lindaman 2011;Lay and Smarick 2006;Werning Rivera and Simons 2008). Studies have found increased levels of internal efficacy among students participating in congressional simulations (Bernstein 2008;Lay and Smarick 2006), campaign simulations (Caruson 2005;Mariani 2007), and a model citizens' assembly (Gershtenson, Rainey, and Rainey 2010).…”

“…Much of the early scholarship on simulations has been dismissed as unsystematic and subjective (Dorn 1989;Kahn and Perez 2009;Smith and Boyer 1996;Werning Rivera and Simons 2008). However, subsequent studies that included postsimulation assessments have found that simulations do help students gain a better understanding of key course concepts, enhance critical thinking skills and improve understanding of the complexities of politics (Dougherty 2003;Galatas 2006;Kanner 2007;Kathlene and Choate 1999;Newmann and Twigg 2000;Raymond and Sorenson 2008;Shellman 2001;Shellman and Turan 2006;Swansbrough 2003).…”

“…Shaw (2006, 63) found that students developed negotiation skills and learned to ''listen, strategize, to advocate their own position, and to work toward compromise for an optimal outcome.'' Further, numerous studies suggest that simulations help students learn oral and written communication skills (Caruson 2005;Dougherty 2003; Werning Rivera and Simons 2008) and improve their ability to work together in groups (Bernstein 2008;Caruson 2005).…”

“…To keep students engaged and to encourage reflection on how the activities relate back to course themes and learning objectives, Werning Rivera and Simons (2008) recommend that students be assigned ''deliverables'' at numerous points throughout the simulation. Accordingly, we required students to come prepared with press releases, hearing and markup statements, questions for witnesses, and proposed amendments at various points in the simulation.…”