User:Acrider/reacting games

Reacting games are educational role-playing games set in the past, with a focus on student debates about great texts.

Attributes
Reacting games have the following attributes:


 * Real historical setting
 * Rich texts
 * Multiple class meetings
 * Roles with well-developed characters
 * Victory objectives
 * Indeterminacy
 * Reading, writing, and speaking
 * Narrative structure with drama
 * Possibility of alternate historical outcomes
 * Accessibility to non-specialists

Reacting games might also include the following common elements:


 * Factions
 * Elements of secrecy
 * Opening vignettes
 * Central texts

A growing number of reacting games also make use of Personal Interest Points (PIPs).

History
Reacting games developed as a genre of educational games in late 1990s. The prototype for these games is the Reacting to the Past series published by Pearson-Longman. This pedagogy was originally developed for use in freshmen seminar class quickly expanded into history, art history, and science

Case Studies
Case studies have have long been used in the medical, business, and legal education. They might involve discussion, debate, problem-based learning, or role-play. By contrast, reacting games require debate and role-play. Unlike case studies, reacting games also must be set in a true historical setting.

Live action role-playing
A live action role-playing games (LARP) has participants assuming roles and playing them out in costume. While reacting games do indeed have students playing historical roles, this rarely involves costumes. Reacting games are used for education while LARP is primarily used for recreation.

Educational Debating
In educuational debate (or debate team), students competitively debate a topic following explicit rules. While educational debate involves only two teams ("for" and "against"), reacting games can involve multiple teams, including an undecided, indeterminate set of players. Educational debate also involves no role-playing and is not set in a historical setting.

Assessment
Psychological studies of students participating in reacting games have shown students to gain an "elevated self-esteem and empathy, a more external locus of control, and greater endorsement of the belief that human characteristics are malleable compared with controls." Additional assessments are being conducted to gauge science content learning in some reacting games.

Notes and References

 * Notes


 * References