Page 13 - Ideas
P. 13
When Associate Professor John Donaldson began
teaching the Introduction to Political and Policy Studies
course, he knew that he had to try a different pedagogy,
one that allows students to learn through experience
about public policy. He challenged himself to go beyond
conventional approaches of using PowerPoint slides,
group presentations and case studies to teach. There are
many different views about public policy; one important
underlying idea is that there can be different groups of
people with different interests and such groups often use
whatever means they have to influence public policy.
To help students appreciate this idea better, John
partnered with CTE to develop a simulation entitled "The
Scenario Generator". The tool enables students to
directly experience theories about public policy that are
not entirely accurate, or do not necessarily work in
practice.
John DONALDSON An experiential learning activity
Associate Professor of Political Science
School of Social Sciences In The Scenario Generator, students are residents in a
Singapore Management University fictional poor, agrarian country. Students are assigned to
different groups and allocated roles, such as farmers and
“Students talk about the simulation all the time in the owners of chemical companies. Each group has its own
student evaluations, and when I meet students in the basis of power, e.g., the farmers are powerful in their
hall. Even if they do not remember anything I taught numbers while chemical companies are powerful in terms
them, they remember the simulation and the lessons that of their finances. In the first round of the simulation,
emerged from it. They never look at politics in the same students prepare for their roles by thinking about the
way again.” changes they want to make, as well as their goals and
