This paper explores how PurpleState, a political simulation designed to foster skills and knowledge for informed civic participation, develops students' abilities to counter or resist the effects of political polarization and partisanship. Throughout the simulation, which has been implemented in Virginia and Wisconsin, students are asked to…

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 explores the hidden educational potential in the board game "Diplomacy." While commonly recognized as a good low-cost negotiation simulation and a useful teaching platform, the original game version over-emphasizes the conflictual nature of international relations and presents an image of international relations that is not…

This paper explores how PurpleState, a political simulation designed to foster skills and knowledge for informed civic participation, develops students' abilities to counter or resist the effects of political polarization and partisanship. Throughout the simulation, which has been implemented in Virginia and Wisconsin, students are asked to…

This article describes various iterations of a Supreme Court simulation that we developed for undergraduate political science classes. We address when simulations should be used to introduce a topic to students, and when simulations should be used to develop students' understanding of a topic after introducing it. In the simulations, we played the…

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…

While the effects of simulation-based courses on the knowledge of participating students may be marginal in relation to standard lecture and discussion-based courses, this article argues that the greatest leverage is gained by increasing participating students' level of interest in the subject of study and in politics more broadly. Participants…

Professors of international relations are increasingly realizing that simulations can be a fun and effective way of teaching the complexities of the field to their students. One popular simulation that has emerged in recent years--the "Statecraft" simulation--is now used by more than 190 colleges and universities worldwide. Despite…

Much of the research on the use of simulations in the political science classroom focuses on how simulations model different events in the real world, including political campaigns, international diplomacy, and legislative bargaining. In the case of American Politics, many simulations focus on the behavior of Congress and the legislative process,…

Simple role-play simulations can not only demonstrate the dynamics of a conflict but also create awareness of multiple perspectives even among populations relatively set in their opinions. To teach my student population of military officers, I utilize simple, nongame simulations of multisided Middle East conflicts that not only facilitate learning…

Describes a semester long simulation of Supreme Court procedures. Recommends this activity for generating an understanding of the decision making process and the impact of the Justices' personal values and attitudes upon Supreme Court decisions. Notes that the course engages students in the learning process while encouraging the acquisition of…

The initial evaluation of an elementary school international relations simulation indicates that the simulation had most impact on participant beliefs. (DE)

This report, prepared by the Academic Games program of the Center, investigates the effects of the game Democracy on the political attitudes of junior high school students through two studies. The game focuses on the process of log-rolling, which the players, assuming the role of congressmen, quickly discover to be the most effective way to…

This publication contains a collection of readings which discuss political participation in American government and games which students can play to get more involved in the topic. Intended for use on the college level and with advanced courses on the secondary level, the book heightens the mutual educational experience for both teacher and…

The research study measures changes in political attitudes of high school students after playing the game "Democracy." The primary purpose of the experiment was to determine if role identification and game structure are primarily responsible for the effects of the game upon the player's attitudes. The player takes the role of a congressman who…