The case for the use of simulations in political science seminars to provide illustrative learning of complex political process has been well demonstrated across a variety of sub-disciplines within political science. Their value to the teaching of European Union politics has also been explored and is particularly valuable for the EU's numerous…

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…

Scholars of teaching and learning frequently examine whether simulations promote content knowledge and engagement with course material. But many educators use simulations to promote additional goals. This article suggests that designers of political simulations often pursue four ends: "knowledge, engagement, skills, and empathy (KESE)."…

This article offers two novel tools for teaching political science methodology and research design. The first is a comprehensive framework for helping students conceptualize a research project in political science. The second is a reformulation of the dominant conceptualization of process-tracing tests. Building on Collier's use of Sherlock Holmes…

What is the role of Model United Nations (MUN) in facilitating deep learning and professional skills attainment in the classroom? Using a 15-week MUN course, I gather data on student progress in four levels of knowledge: factual, conceptual, procedural, and metacognitive. I use pre- and post-activity surveys as well as the instructor's own…

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…

While the number of newspapers and the circulation of those remaining is decreasing, they are still the greatest contributor of new information into media ecosystems. Newspapers continue to pay an important role in setting the agenda, as other sources recycle and repackage their content. To assist students in learning concepts of newspapers,…

Model United Nations (MUN) simulations are an increasingly popular approach to teaching international relations, in both secondary and tertiary education. There is some evidence, however, that these simulations disadvantage female participants. Studies by Rosenthal et al. and Coughlin found that female students participate less in simulations than…

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 addresses two crucial gaps in the scholarship on the design and execution Simulation-Based Education (SBE) -- the importance of scaffolding in constructing successful simulations for entry-level students and the associated value of social media tools. We examine these issues within three successive iterations of a role-play simulation…

As experiential learning becomes more central to undergraduate education, we must find ways to use it in large classes and to teach students how to learn from experiences. This article uses a 2-year study of student perceptions of learning from short, in-class games and simulations to show that these active learning activities can be used to…

Simulation pedagogies, while offering powerful potential benefits to students, often have difficulty in combining two desirable outcomes: experiencing the consequential stakes associated with true crisis situations, on the one hand, with the direct relatability associated with more "realistic" hands-on scenarios, on the other. In this…

While the use of active learning exercises and the incorporation of popular culture in the classroom have increased in recent years, the study of potential gendered effects on learning and engagement when it comes to these practices has been limited. In this study, data are collected from international politics courses using a zombie outbreak as…

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…

Academic institutions and programs are increasingly using experiential learning and simulations with the observation that these pedagogical devices not only facilitate knowledge but they also provide an opportunity for skills and attitudinal development. The article seeks to determine the effect of experiential learning through simulations on…