Recent Publication: The Introduction of Simulations into U.S. Classrooms
Lesson Launch Blog
By Dr. Paul E. Binford
Past President, Mississippi Council for the Social Studies
As a high school student attending public school in Indianapolis, I vividly remember participating in several history simulations in the late 1970s.
My Experience
For example, my World History class (10th grade) spent an entire nine weeks preparing for and participating in a Little United Nations Assembly (LUNA). I was a member of the West German delegation. The culminating experience occurred when all the students in World History participated in LUNA. Students gathered in a large gymnasium and for two full school days we proposed, debated, deliberated and voted upon an array of resolutions. I remember being frustrated by the Communist Bloc nations’ concerted efforts to monopolize the floor and, thereby, control the agenda. Looking back, I’m sure the Communist Bloc nations were covertly guided by my World History teacher.
Needless to say, it was a remarkable experience!
I’m so appreciative of the social studies teachers from Ben Davis High School and Franklin Central High School, who provided a different kind of learning experience than the typical social studies fare of many classrooms. It certainly required much more teacher time, skill, planning, and effort than if these educators had resorted to the exclusive use of direct instruction, book assignments, and worksheets! Little did I know then that it was not only shaping my historical understanding, but my future craft!
I experienced several other simulations during these high school years; most were not as elaborate as LUNA, but still engaging, inspiring, and memorable learning opportunities. It is not surprising then that as a result of this educational example, I made extensive use of classroom simulations in my own teaching practice.
Moreover, my first publication was a U.S. history simulation entitled, “Lincoln’s Cabinet and the Sumter Crisis” (2001), which is still sold by the Social Studies School Service. From a scholarly perspective, I knew simulation usage—as my own experience suggested—was all the rage in social studies classrooms during the 1960s and 1970s, but when did the first teachers experiment with classroom simulations in the United States?
History of Simulations
Some reference books indicated it was from this same period of peak interest in the simulation strategy. Other sources asserted that simulation use began in the post-World War II period (late 1940s and early 1950s) when the simulation strategy used by the military and colleges and universities crossed over into secondary classrooms.
In actuality, the classroom simulation has a longer and richer history. The introduction of simulations into U.S. public school classrooms occurred long before the Forties and Fifties. In fact, the simulation strategy was initially considered an “experiment” by pioneering teachers, who recognized the developmental needs of children and had the prescience to make the connection between a child’s desire to play and experiential learning, such as simulations.
Isn’t it ironic that teachers recognized this developmental desire more than a 100 years ago, and they sought teaching strategies to take full advantage of this child-like inclination, but presently we are “drilling and killing” student interest in learning as teachers are relentlessly pressured to prepare pupils for standardized testing.
Publication
For more information on this topic, see my most recent journal publication, “‘Students Know What They Are Doing’: The Introduction of the Simulation to Classrooms in the United States” (pp. 29-40) published in the Society for the Study of Curriculum History’s journal, Curriculum History.
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