Running for Your Grade: A Six-Week Senatorial Campaign Simulation

Abstract

As political science faculty at East Central University, a small teaching-oriented state school located in rural Oklahoma, we are constantly challenged to provide our students with novel approaches to learning. Oklahoma's traditionalistic political culture is demonstrated to us daily as our students seem to envision themselves as subjects of an inscrutable system rather than potent democratic actors. To enhance understanding of issues related to campaigns and elections, we developed a six-week simulation in which upper-level political science students participated as a candidate for the U.S. Senate, as a member of a campaign team, or as a member of the media. Approximately 200 of our Introduction to American Government students were called upon to be the voters in our simulation, a role for which many of our students cast the first ballots of their lives.

DICTATORS & FINDING THE INSURGENT: THREE GAMES ON OPPRESSION & RESISTANCE

“…value of political simulations in the education of students of politics (Kaarbo and Lantis 1997;Kathlene and Choate 1999;Shellman 2001;Pappas and Peaden 2004;Shaw 2006;Mariani 2007;Dittmer 2015;Horn, Rubin, and Schouenborg 2015;Neys and Jansz 2019) and international relations (Asal 2005;Newmann and Twigg 2000;Shellman and Turan 2006;Enterline and Jepsen 2009;Crossley-Frolick 2010;Butcher 2012;Asal and Kratoville 2013;Biziouras 2013;Brynen and Milante 2013;. The reason for the rapid expansion of simulations in classrooms appeared in the very first issue of the Journal of Political Science Education.…”