PS: Political Science & Politics

Table of Contents - July 2009 - Volume 42, Issue 03  

The Teacher

Making Movies Active: Lessons from Simulations

Sheri Sunderlanda1, Jonathan C. Rothermela2 and Adam Luska1

a1 Temple University

a2 Mansfield University of Pennsylvania

ABSTRACT

Movies have a long and distinguished history in the political science and international relations classrooms; they provide connections between abstract theories and concepts and concrete everyday practices. However, traditional approaches to teaching movies in the political science and international relations classrooms allow for passive student learning, where students watch the movie and then react. We propose using insights from simulations to help resolve these problems with using movies in the classroom. In this article, we outline the learning methods and approaches of simulations, and then apply them to movies in the international relations classroom.

Sheri Sunderland is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of political science at Temple University. Her research interests include security and peace operations.

Jonathan C. Rothermel is an assistant professor in the department of history and political science at Mansfield University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include labor transnationalism and global unions.

Adam Lusk is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of political science at Temple University. His research focuses on international security and U.S. foreign policy. He has taught at Temple University and Ursinus College.

Footnotes

We greatly appreciate the feedback and comments received at 2007 Northeast Political Science Association Meeting, especially from Rebecca Evans, and the suggestions from the anonymous reviewers and editorial staff of PS: Political Science and Politics. We also would like to thank the department of political science at Temple University and department of politics at Ursinus College for the numerous teaching opportunities that allowed us to develop, implement, and assess these lessons.

Metrics
0Comments