The large introductory classes at many universities present a particular challenge for instructors wishing to guarantee participation opportunities for their students. Yet, large courses can actually afford advantages for instructors looking to replicate many features of the U.S. Congress. We describe two separate Congressional simulations in an…

Competition among parties is a central feature of democratic politics, but extreme partisanship can undermine democratic practices and institutions. We report the results of a formative curricular intervention involving reflective discussions designed to avoid hyper-partisanship in a training program for anyone--including university students--with…

This article outlines a semester-long advocacy project that walks students through the steps to develop a successful advocacy campaign, culminating in a trip to the state capitol to "lobby" legislators. The manuscript provides faculty with the basic structure for the project and suggests gradable assignments. The project builds on the…

International relations is often confusing for students. IR theories are introduced as parsimonious and elegant and then systematically challenged as students learn more about detailed events. There are rules, there are norms, and states follow them until they don't. East Asia increases these challenges because it often undermines IR theory.…

What if Stephen Douglas instead of Abraham Lincoln had won the U.S. presidential election of 1860? What if John F. Kennedy had not carried some of the eight states he won by 2 percentage points or fewer in 1960? What if six hundred more people in Florida had voted for Al Gore in 2000? And what if, in that same year, the U.S. House of…

"Pin-the-Tail-on-the-Constitution" is an engaged-learning activity that has been conducted in 26 classes over the past four years. The activity teaches multiple themes commonly included in a variety of courses on American politics such as federalism, congressional powers, the role of the federal courts, and the relevance of the commerce…

This article explores the integration of a multiweek legislative simulation with the Blackboard (9.1) Platform in an effort to understand how technology may increase student engagement, collaborative learning, and assessment. We consider the ways in which classroom technologies--blogs and online peer and self assessment tools, in particular--can…

Students have access to a vast amount of information about American politics through new media outlets (e.g., the Internet). We survey the perils and promise of this new landscape through a case study of a political science class at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York (CUNY), that examined congressional races in the 2010…

Few recent issues in higher education have been as contentious as that of legislation extending in-state college tuition benefits to undocumented students, initiatives now known as in-state resident tuition (ISRT) policies. Building on several strands of literature in political science and higher education studies, we analyze the effects of…

The author outlines the activities of a typical day in the life of a member of Parliament. The narrow role of a legislator has expanded to one of a social ombudsman and requires a broader view in political science education. (DE)

Describes a college course which studies the U.S. House of Representatives. The course examines the origins of the House, life on the hill, rules, committee assignments, leadership, legislators, and the bureaucracy. (RM)

While there has been an increase in the number of women elected to state legislatures, little is known about the impact of gender on state legislation. A longitudinal analysis was conducted of bills proposed by individual legislators in the Arizona State Legislature between 1969 and 1986 to investigate the relationship of gender to public policy…

A Congressman lists 13 examples of methods that Congress is developing and using to provide a better technical information base for making technological decisions, including those concerned with environmental impact. Examples of legislation illustrate some points. (AL)

An outline of the French electoral system covers the voters and their voting rights, assembly seats and candidates, political campaigning, allocation of assembly seats, balloting system, and recent coalitions. Election results for a bibliography are appended. (MSE)

While some teachers think cable television broadcasts of congressional proceedings reveal how public policy is made, others feel it is not a representative view, has limited access, and contains little useful material for the time required to obtain it. (MSE)