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During the winter semester of 1994, 130 students in three upper-division undergraduate classes at the University of Missouri participated in a role-playing simulation of public policy formation in the U.S. Congress. This semester-long simulation enabled students to take a more active role in the learning process and to participate in an experience more closely resembling the real world of policy making.
This simulation involved three courses (Congress and Legislative Policy; Interest Group Politics; and Public Policy) taught by the two authors. Each of the authors independently reached the conclusion that the traditional lecture format in American politics courses often is not effective in providing students with an adequate understanding of the process underlying democratic decision making. High school civic and the evening news socialize undergraduates toward a passive study of political institutions. But the interaction and dynamic compromise inherent in the development of public policy can be lost using teaching strategies in which an instructor merely describes this dynamic relationship to students.
Objectives and Structure of the Simulation
Both instructors had employed role-playing simulations in previous courses but found that a political game lasting an hour or a week does not adequately provide students with the depth of knowledge obtainable in a lengthy simulation. Additionally, they believed that the relatively small scale of single-class simulations does not adequately reflect the uncertainty and complexity of the Washington environment. An alternative role-playing game was devised to introduce students to the process of politics. The goals of the simulation were to teach students how to cope with ill defined policy problems; to deal with a group policy-making process; and to improve written, oral, and electronic communication skills. Further, the instructors wanted to structure the simulation so that students still received much of the material presented in a more traditional course format, and they preferred that students would be graded on individual projects undertaken in a group process. Three contemporary public policy issues (environment, health care, and technology) were selected as the substantive policy focus for each of the three classes. The instructors coordinated their class schedules so that students could play their roles and interact with members of the other classes. Table 1 outlines the calendar for the three-course simulation.
Each student selected a role to play, subject...