The following excerpts were taken from the article “Learning Through Experience” by Jane van den Dries who profiled a recent symposium held on campus by Teaching and Learning Services and the Office of the Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Academic). Over 200 participants attended, including History Professor Pamela Walker, who gave details on how she incorporates experiential learning into her first year seminar, FYSM 1405A: The Long Civil Rights Movement.
Game-Based Learning Draws in Students
Pamela Walker, a professor in the Department of History, and Martha Attridge Bufton, an interdisciplinary studies librarian in the MacOdrum Library, teamed up in one of the symposium’s final sessions to present a unique simulation they manage in a first-year history seminar.
Walker leads game-based learning in “The Long Civil Rights Movement” course by facilitating a Reacting to the Past game throughout the semester with research support from Attridge Bufton.
The Reacting to the Past consortium has developed an intellectually rigorous simulation that gives students an opportunity to assume the role of a historical figure. Students begin with detailed complex readings and fully research their character over several weeks before they act and react in character through class discussions, presentations and papers.
“This type of learning gives students a stake in the game’s outcome because they want to win, so suddenly what suffrage women have to say about Marxist theory becomes meaningful and important,” said Walker.
“In any career students are likely to enter, being able to understand text and speak and write persuasively are important skills, but if I say it that way to students, it does not have the same influence as when I say: ‘In order to win this game, you need to do all these things well and I can help you on your way,’ because it suddenly becomes more exciting and engages them emotionally.”
Walker says she has found that incorporating game-based learning has strengthened her course to help students more fully grasp the impact of history.