5. Further Resources

The information on this page is also available as a Word document at the bottom of the page produced by Amanda Rosen (Webster) for a workshop on simulations at the American Political Science Association's Teaching & Learning Conference in Long Beach CA in February 2013.

General and How-To Guides on Using Simulations

Active Learning in Political Science Blog This is a blog edited by the creators of this resource guide. ALPS has the stated mission of providing “resources and ideas for using active learning techniques in the political science classroom and to promote general discussion about innovative teaching methods.” Topics range from specific games and simulations, reflections on the use of active learning in the classroom, getting students to read and participate, and the use of social media to complement traditional learning environments.

SimShare’s Guide to Designing Simulations This is a one-page guide to simulation design with three points of discussion: the types of teaching and learning that facilitate simulations; structuring learner activity; and assessment.

Simplay A good list of articles on simulations from outside of political science, many of them from conferences on gaming and simulation use.

http://negotiating.wetpaint.com/ - a wiki set up by myself, with assorted resources

Compilations of Simulations and Games

APSA List of Simulations and Games The American Political Science Association has compiled several of the better-known simulations in its Teaching Resources.

Harvard’s Program on Negotiation This useful website features useful information—as well as simulations—on issues of negotiation and dispute resolution.

Simshare An open source compilation of simulations, continually updated with new material. Search for different simulations to use, and consider uploading your own materials.

Archive of Simulations and Games for the Enhancement of the Student Experience – HEA-funded resource with several games

Icons Project The University of Maryland sponsors ICONS (International Communication & Negotiation Simulations), a series of simulations usable in the political science classroom.

Global Education Games This is a long list of online games on globalizing education, some targeting grade-school but others easily adapted or intended for college students.

Games For Change This is a non-profit organization that marshals games to teach students about global issues and how they can be resolved. It includes games targeting such issues as Darfur, climate change, immigration, and energy scarcity.

Active History: Government and Politics This site by Russell Tarr of the International School of Toulouse contains a number of active learning exercises for history, government and politics, mostly aimed at younger students but with quite a few targeting the late high-school/early college demographic. Downside: the site requires a membership fee.

Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) This site has a lot of different kinds of resources including lesson plans and presentations. There are currently twenty different political science simulations available.

Specific Simulations and Games

Statecraft This online game has teams of students run fictional countries in a world facing terrorism, resource shortages, and climate change. In addition to negotiating with other states, students face two sets of domestic politics challenges: the various interest groups in the country who clamor for particular projects and actions, and the dynamic of working with teammates responsible for different aspects of policymaking. There is an individual cost to each student.

Game of Politics This is a macro-level simulation of American politics involving media, press conferences, and judicial, executive, and legislative decision-making. It is intended to be run over the course of several sessions. There are also ‘micro-simulations’ available that cover just the decision-making elements. Instructors can either buy the materials for themselves, or have students individually purchase manuals to the game.

The International Trade Game This game has students play in teams as countries that must trade their products (cut out shapes) on an international commodity market. The ‘rich’ countries get all the tools to make the shapes, while the ‘poor’ countries get the raw materials, but no tools. With little direction from the instructor, students learn to start trading with each other and to handle a commodity market run by supply and demand. Available for free.

Model United Nations One of the most well-known simulations, Model UN requires students to take on the role of delegates of a country to a specific committee or body of the United Nations and negotiate resolutions on current problems. There are national and international competitions, but it can also be run in one of its many variations—such as Model UN Security Council, Model European Union, Model ASEAN, or Model Congress—in the individual classroom. American Model United Nations International sells a UN-in-a-box kit to guide instructors on how to create and run an MUN for their individual classes. The kit costs $50; Model UN can be run for free without it.

The Redistricting Game This is a neat series of online games that teaches students about redistricting and gerrymandering in American politics. Students redraw districts to suit their political party, taking into account geography and ethnic divisions of the population. Available for free.

Cap and Trade Available from the Environmental Protection Agency, in this simulation students “act as an environmental compliance officer at an electric power plant located in the fictitious country of Ecoland.” They are tasked “to develop a compliance strategy that will allow your facility to meet the emission limits (or cap) while still generating enough electricity to meet customer demand.” The two simulations available cover sulfur dioxide for acid rain and carbon dioxide for climate change. Available for free.

Evoke From the website: “EVOKE is a ten-week crash course in changing the world. It is free to play and open to anyone, anywhere. The goal of the social network game is to help empower people all over the world to come up with creative solutions to our most urgent social problems.” This is an alternate reality game and is freely available.

World Without Oil This alternate reality game asks students to consider how they and others would respond to a world where oil becomes scarce and expensive. Ten lesson plans walk students through the fear, the shortages, and the violence, using films and blog entries written by the original players of the game. This game is free to use.

Ayiti: The Cost of Life From the ALPS blog post: “Ayiti is a simple but fiendishly challenging simulation of poverty in Haiti, created through a partnership between Gamelab and Global Kids, with support from UNICEF and Microsoft. It’s a great demonstration of the effects of productivity shocks in conditions of poverty. The setting is a poor Haitian family that is struggling to survive; the player must decide how to allocate the family’s limited resources, manage risk, and pursue goals.”

The Hobbes Game This game, designed by Victor Asal, illustrates Thomas Hobbes’ description of the state of nature. Students are given a ‘life card’ and told the object of the game is to survive—to still have a card at the end of the game. They are told how to challenge other players for their cards, and that if challenged, they must fight. Although they are never told they must challenge someone, students immediately do so. Even after being told they could stop fighting and still win the game, students frequently wish to continue fighting, sometimes for the glory of winning. This serves as an excellent introduction to Hobbes for a political theory or international relations class. This is also discussed here.

Publisher Supplements

Many publishers include online simulations as supplementary resources for instructors and students. WW Norton’s are free and do not require book adoption. WW Norton’s We the People page, for example, has some great discussion questions, video exercises, and online simulations for American Politics. WW Norton’s Essentials of International Relations does the same for international relations.

Most textbooks come with instructor supplements now, and many of those include active-learning techniques and in-class simulations you can do. Most of these are digital files you can access directly from the publisher, or are included in study-space style accompanying websites, like Pearson’s MyPoliSciLab. Check with the publisher of your textbook, and potentially consider such supplements as you make your text choices.

There is also a text, Watkins and Jensen’s Instructor’s Manual to We the People, also by WW Norton, that includes a number of activities and simulations potentially of interest. You can request an exam copy from the publisher.

Key Journals

There are certain journals that publish simulations and games for the political science classroom. Consider searching their archives or subscribing to get access to the most recent scholarship on simulation use as well as specific simulations on topics across all sub-fields of political science.

Journal of Political Science Education

International Studies Perspectives

PS: Political Science and Politics

Simulation and Gaming: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Theory, Practice, and Research

Negotiation Journal

Selective Bibliography of Books and Articles on Simulations and Games

A definitive bibliography of literature on political science writing on simulation is available via the excellent IPED resource.

Asal, Victor and Jayson Kratoville. Forthcoming. “Constructing International Relations Simulations: Examining the Pedagogy of IR simulations though a Constructivist Learning Theory Lens ” Journal of Political Science Education .

Asal, Victor, and Elizabeth L. Blake. 2006. “Creating Simulations for Political Science Education.” Journal of Political Science Education, 2(1): 1-18.

Asal, Victor , Steve Sin, Nolan Fahrenkopf and She, Xiaoye Forthcoming “The Comparative Politics Game Show.” International Studies Perspectives.

Asal, Victor, and Marcus Schulzke. Forthcoming. "A Shot Not Taken: Teaching About the Ethics of Political Violence " International Studies Perspectives. Forthcoming.

Asal, Victor. 2005. “Playing Games with International Relations.” International Studies Perspectives, 6(3): 359-373.

Blum, Andrew and Audrey Scherer. "What Creates Engagement? An Analysis of Student Participation in ICONS Simulations." APSA Teaching and Learning Conference. Charlotte, NC. 9-11 Feb. 2007. Conference Presentation.

Chin, Jeffrey et al (2009) “Assessment in Simulation and Gaming: A Review of the Last 40 years,” Simulation & Gaming 40 (4): 553-68.

Conrad, et al. 2002. The Art of Negotiation. Toronto: Toronto University Press.

Freitas, Sara I. de (2006) “Using Games and Simulations for Supporting Learning,” Learning, Media and Technology 31 (4): 343-358.

Grant, J. Tobin. 2004. Playing Politics. WW Norton.

Gredler M. (1992), Designing and Evaluating Games and Simulations: A Process Approach, Kogan Page, London.

Hertel J. & Millis B. (2002) Using Simulations to Promote Learning in Higher Education: An Introduction, Sterling, Stylus Publishing.

Kollars, Nina and Amanda M. Rosen. Forthcoming. “Simulations as Active Assessment? Typologizing by Purpose and Source.” Journal of Political Science Education.

Laver, Michael. 1997. Playing Politics: The Nightmare Continues. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lay, Celeste J. and Kathleen J. Smarick. "Simulating a Senate Office: The Impact on Student Knowledge and Attitudes." Journal of Political Science Education 2.2 (2006): pp. 131-146. Taylor and Francis Online.

Newmann, W. & J. Twigg (2000) ‘Active engagement of the intro IR student: A simulation approach’, PS: Political Science and Politics, 33:4, pp. 835-842

Raymond, Chad, Simon Usherwood, “Assessment in Simulations.” Forthcoming in Journal of Political Science Education 9, 2 (2013).

Raymond, Chad, “Missing the Trees for the Forest? Learning Environments Versus Learning Techniques in Simulations.” Journal of Political Science Education 8, 1 (2012): 69-84.

Raymond, Chad, “Do Role-Playing Simulations Generate Measurable and Meaningful Outcomes? A Simulation’s Effect on Exam Scores and Teaching Evaluations.” International Studies Perspectives 11 (2010): 51-60.

Raymond, Chad, and Kerstin Sorensen, “The Use of a Middle East Crisis Simulation in an International Relations Course.” PS: Political Science & Politics 41, 1 (2008): 179-182.

Sabin P. (2012) Simulating War: Studying Conflict through Simulation Games, London, Continuum

Vernon, Vavrina. "An Old-Timer's Reflections on IP Simulations." APSA Teaching and Learning Conference. Renaissance Hotel, Washington, D.C. Feb. 2006. Conference Presentation.

Wedig, Timothy. "Getting the Most from Classroom Simulations: Strategies for Maximizing Learning Outcomes." PS: Political Science & Politics 43.3 (2010): pp. 547-555.

Whitton, N. & A. Moseley (eds.) (2012) Using games to enhance learning and leaching, Abingdon, Routledge.

Wilson, Arnold, ed. 1988. Demonstrating Philosophy: Novel Ways to Teach Philosophical Concepts. New York: Lanham.

Woodworth, et al. 2005. Camelot: A Role Playing Simulation for Political Decision Making. Wadsworth.

Finally, I have attached some academic papers that I have published on the following topics:

• C. Raymond & S. Usherwood, “Assessment in Simulations”, Journal of Political Science Education, 9(2), (2013).
• S. Usherwood, "Constructing Effective Simulations of the European Union for Teaching" European Political Science, forthcoming.
• S. Usherwood, ‘Grounding simulations in reality: a casestudy from an undergraduate politics degree’, in On The Horizon, Vol.17-4, 2009, 296-302
• S. Usherwood, ‘EnhancingStudent Immersion in Negotiation-Based Learning Environments’, in International Journal of Learning, Vol.16-7, 2009
• My presentation on 'Making simulations work' to the 1st European Conference on Teaching & Learning in Politics, IR and European Studies, Maastricht, Netherlands, 26-7 Jun 2014. Attached below.
• My paper on building resources in political science at the APSA Teaching and Learning Conference, Long Beach, CA, 8-10 Feb 2013, offers a number of reflections on the processes involved in creating this site (and other resources).
• My presentation on immersion, presented at the 16th International Conference on Learning, at Barcelona, on 1-5 July 2009. A revised version was presented at the SAGSET conference at Leeds Met, on 23 July 2009
• This paper on maintaining realism in negotiation-based learning, presented at the SAGSET annual conference, at University of Nottingham, on 17-18 June 2008