GOALS

* Leadership Development

* Communication Skills

* Involvement in Politics, Government and Society

* Teamwork

* Confidence and Self-Esteem

* Problem Solving Abilities

* Understanding of Political Events and Government

* Retention of Subject Matter

 

"The essence of Presidential leadership is the ability to persuade, to convince them to do what you want them to do because it is in their own best interest." Richard Neustadt

 

MAJOR COMPONENTS

* SIMULATIONS

* SERVICE LEARNING

* WRITING INTENSIVE

* SIMULATIONS

(Via Distance Learning)

* COMPUTER SIMULATIONS

 

"Come my friends 'tis not too late to seek a newer world."

Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

WHY SIMULATIONS?

* IMAGINATIVE THINKING

* EXPERIENCE IN DECISION MAKING

* EXPLORATION OF IDEAS

* STUDENT CENTERED

* ACTION ORIENTED

* INTERDISCIPLINARY

* STUDENT SOCIALIZATION

* LEARNING BY DOING

 

"Experience is the child of Thought and Thought is the child of Action."

Benjamin Disraeli

 

PS 1 SIMULATIONS

* VOTES - The Electoral Process

* BUDGET - The Legislative Process

* CRIMINAL COURT - The Judicial System

* POLICE PATROL - Civil Liberties

 

PS 3 SIMULATIONS

* BULLETS & BALLOTS - revolution? or the democratic process?

* DEATH OF A DISSIDENT - human rights

* FIRE IN THE FOREST - economic development v. environmental preservation

* POLITBORO - the Communist system

 

POLITICAL SCIENCE SIMULATIONS

TERMS AND CONCEPTS

Bargaining

Negotiations

Survivor Skills

Civil Rights

Cross-Cultural Sensitivity

Diplomacy

National Honor

Justice/Injustice

National Interest

Rights of Self-Determination

Terrorism

Human Rights

International Law

Democratic Process

Leadership

Conflict Resolution

Networking

Consensus Building

The Role of the Press

Cross Pressures

Loyalty

Goals

 

SERVICE LEARNING AND MENTORING PROJECTS

* Innovative Learning Project with area high schools

* "Our Community" with Junior Achievement

* You...The Police...The Law with area grade schools

* Individual projects with political, governmental, and social service agencies

"We are the only people who consider they who do not meddle in the affairs of state not lazy nor idle nor indolent, but good for nothing." Pericles

 

EVALUATION BY "LEARNING SYSTEMS DESIGN WORKSHOP" (SPRING '96)

*Statistically significant differences between the York students and the control groups. York students agreed that the course helped them:

Develop the ability to work as a team member.

Develop communication skills.

Develop confidence.

Realize that voting is important.

 

EVALUATION BY "LEARNING SYSTEMS DESIGN WORKSHOP"n (Spring '96)

* Statistically significant differences: York students:

Believe they will remember the content of the course much longer because of the way the course was taught.

Demonstrated a much broader awareness in identifying important political issues.

Demonstrated a much deeper understanding of the factors influencing a politician's decision.

Raised a variety of issues that appear to be more specific and in some cases more critical.

 

EVALUATION BY "LEARNING SYSTEMS DESIGN WORKSHOP" (Spring '96)

* Statistically significant differences on the following items that students believe:

This course is better than other courses they have taken.

The workload in this course was heavier than in other courses.

Their professor has an interesting job. (I'm not sure what to make of this.)

 

EVALUATION BY "LEARNING SYSTEMS DESIGN WORKSHOP" (Spring '96)

NO statistically significant differences regarding:

The "concept mapping" task to evaluate the students' depth of understanding.

The students' problem solving ability.

 

EVALUATION BY "LEARNING SYSTEMS DESIGN WORKSHOP" (Spring '96)

* Breadth of awareness of political issues.

"In your opinion what are the most important political issues?" -and- "Politicians make decisions based on..."

Even though this wasn't statistically evaluated, the Penn State York students demonstrated a greater awareness of the many diverse political issues and an even greater awareness of the factors influencing politicians' decisions.

 

TABLE A.

RECOGNITION OF POLITICAL ISSUES

Number of Responses 37 20

Frequency of Responses 75 41

The members of the Learning Systems Design team concluded, "Students in the simulation class raised a variety of issues that appear to be more specific and in some cases more critical.

 

EVALUATION BY "LEARNING SYSTEMS DESIGN WORKSHOP" (Spring '96)

* Political Decisions Questions

 

TABLE B. FACTORS

INFLUENCING A POLITICIAN'S DECISIONS

Number of Responses 32 7

Frequency of Responses 49 11

 

These responses seem to indicate a much deeper understanding and, possibly, better problem solving skills on the part of the York students than the control group.

 

EVALUATION BY "LEARNING SYSTEMS DESIGN WORKSHOP" (Spring '96)

* Student Preferences for Classroom Activities

 

TABLE C.

RANK ORDER OF TOP THREE FAVORITE LEARNING

ACTIVITIES

1

2

3

 

On the question "how important were they to your learning," the results were:

 

TABLE D.

RANK ORDER OF TOP THREE MOST IMPORTANT LEARNING ACTIVITIES

1

2

3