This paper describes environmental systems games developed for energy and water resource use designed to be adaptable from high school to undergraduate use. Two of the games are computer simulations with adjustable levels of difficulty that can be done in a computer lab or as a homework assignment. The third is a peer-to-peer roleplayer game…

This paper explores the contribution to geography teaching which can be made by serious games. We describe the ways in which gaming has progressed from "dissected maps" and jigsaws through board games, to the range of online games which are available today. We describe the development, in conjunction with European partner institutions,…

This paper reports on an introductory world regional geography course with a role-playing exercise. The goal was to situate students in a form of popular geopolitics that engaged them viscerally with positionality and othering. Students were assigned different positionalities in a liminal active learning environment within a context of fear of…

This article uses pre- and post-surveys to assess learning outcomes associated with a role-play simulation set within a fictionalized extension of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Quantitative and qualitative data suggest that the simulation increased student appreciation of the complexity of international negotiation, but decreased student…

Using a stakeholder debate based on a real-world case of regional construction--that of Turkey's application to join the European Union--improved students' critical thinking in an introductory world regional geography course. Such courses are a staple offering among US geography departments, and often the only exposure of non-majors to geographic…

This paper develops two sets of concepts to theorize why students engage differently in Geographical Information Systems (GIS). These theoretical concepts are used as an analytical lens to explore empirical data on the experiences and engagement of students enrolled in an undergraduate GIS course in planning and management. The analysis shows that…

Teaching conservation management means more than just learning about solving complex and difficult environmental issues. Such learning must also consider the likely administrative context that students will end up working in. This article outlines the development of a role-play that uses online technology to teach several administrative processes…

This paper introduces and details an innovative mode of fieldcourse assessment in which students take on the role of tour guides to offer their lecturer and peers a themed, theoretically informed journey through the urban landscape of Havana, Cuba. Informed by notions of student-centered learning and mobile methods, the tour offers an enjoyable,…

This paper explores role-play pedagogies in learning and communicating about cutting-edge flood science by flood risk management professionals in local government. It outlines role-play process/structure and evaluates participant perceptions of their learning experiences. Issues were impacts of prior role-play experience on attitudes brought to…

This paper presents the results of a simulation exercise designed to explore and understand the implications of trying to survive in a marginal and poverty-stricken African community. The aim of the simulation was to create an approximation of a community involved in an income-generating project, akin to a Public Works Programme. This project…

This paper identifies some of the pedagogical benefits of an active learning course delivery complemented by an online discussion forum to teach sustainability by evaluating the case of a geography master's course. The potential benefits and some challenges of an active learning course delivery to teach sustainability in geography and related…

Focusing on the debate around women's membership of the Royal Geographical Society (UK) 1892-1893, a role play was written using archive and secondary sources and is reproduced here as a resource. In the first instance the role play makes women visible in the late nineteenth-century geographical discourse. It also shows how institutional…

Suggests that using the format of the planning public inquiry as a model for a learning activity provides geography students, usually working in teams, with the opportunity to investigate environmental issues from a particular point of view and to present their case as an oral presentation and written report. (DSK)

Outlines the history, use, and value of simulations (role play, operational games, and individual exercises) in geography instruction. The author stresses that, while simulations improve student motivation and increase interest in concepts, their effectiveness depends on proper integration into course curricula. (AM)

Describes two introductory college-level geography programs which use undergraduate students as peer teachers. In a human geography course, they act as small-group leaders in role-playing simulations. In a physical geography course, peer teachers serve as tutors for mastery learning. Socio-psychological, pedagogical, economic, and political…