Learning about political systems while playing: Testing short-term knowledge retention through a role-play classroom game

Abstract

Active-learning environments have been slowly but increasingly integrated into the political science curricula. Students and professors have fun in the active-learning processes. However, we still need evidence to support the nexus between learning and playing to ensure students learn more, or at least the same, with active-learning methodologies than with traditional ones. This article tests the effect of game-based learning on knowledge acquisition about political systems. We conduct a quasi-experiment in a Spanish university on second-year political science major students. Two groups were exposed to the treatment (role-play), and the third did not receive the intervention but a traditional lecture. We conducted a multi-method analysis to explore the data. Our results confirm that students exposed to role-plays have higher shortterm knowledge retention about political systems than those who took the traditional lectures. The main sociodemographic factor pushing knowledge retention is the current GPA of students. Qualitative analysis shows that, through games, students perceive a reinforcement of their skills and recognize the usefulness of role-playing games in for teaching electoral formulas, the benefits of redistribution and trade, and the complexities around decision-making in political systems