A project to determine the effectiveness of a program designed to create more positive attitudes among students studying social studies through use of simulation games is described in this dissertation. The purposes of the project were to describe the design and implementation of a plan for such a program and to determine whether simulation games could bring about greater student interst and motivation for secondary students of varying abilities. The dissertation contains a review of the literature, methodology of the study, discussion about simulation games, presentation and analysis of the data, and conlusions and implications. One hundred 11th-grade students from Elmsford, New York, were tested using five simulation games--"1787,""Democracy,""Inter-Nation,""Hat in the Ring," and "The Union Divides". Data for the project included responses to opinion-type questionnaires, teacher observations, interviews, written reports, and student records. Results suggest that simulation games do enhance student interest and do produce more positive attitudes toward the social studies. Because the extent to which attitude changes were due solely to the simulation games was not established, it was concluded that no single factor associated with changes in classroom methodology could be identified as having greater influence on attitudes. The dissertation includes an extensive bibliography. (Author/ND)