February 5, 2003
THE GAMES ARE ON AT SMITH
History by Reenacting the Past
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NORTHAMPTON, Mass.-What kind of strange
class features a professor who neither lectures nor participates
in class discussion-and is referred to as "the gamemaster?"
Where students are encouraged to argue, cajole, shout and pass
At Smith College, the class is "Reenacting the Past: History
as Hypothesis." If students originally found it strange,
they've now embraced it as challenging, demanding and fun.
Launched in the fall of 2002, "Reenacting" involves
students in complicated games where they assume the roles of
important characters in notable periods of history. The concept
was originally developed at Barnard College, where Smith Government
Professor Patrick Coby attended a conference to learn how to
run the game.
While he was "skeptical at first, thinking that college-aged
students would feel embarrassed by role playing," he also
saw the "Reenacting" games as a "new, refreshing
way to teach theory to students."
"'Reenacting the Past' transforms students from passive
listeners to active participants, posing them as makers of their
own destiny and controllers of history," Coby notes.
"The class is very exciting because students get to move
history in ways that didn't occur. It's mesmerizing how the games
capture your attention and make you want to perform at the height
of your ability.
"Students write to persuade their peers, not the professor,
so they write well and become very careful readers."
Although the gamemaster helps get the class started and can step
in when technical issues arise, the students ultimately run the
game. Because students are graded on the persuasiveness of their
arguments, they must sharpen both their speaking and writing
Computer science major Angela Murphy, who took the course in
the fall, explains how the game is played.
"The concept is that you get the assembly (the class) to
vote and pass laws that your role would have wanted to pass in,
say, ancient Athens. There are many ways to 'win,' including
getting people to vote for your cause, trading votes, or knowing
more about the subject."
In the latter strategy, Murphy notes, research is critical.
"You want to read up on everything you can find in order
to increase your possibility of winning."
In the first game of the fall semester, "Athens After the
Peloponnesian War," students learned to play such roles
as oligarchs, indeterminates and moderate democrats. Cognitive
science major Ariadne Nevin, who played a radical democrat, embraced
the role playing with vigor.
"I think it's a wonderful pedagogy. I've never been terribly
interested in democracy as an idea, but now I find myself looking
for ways to improve its flaws, or make its ideals more practical."
While it's true that students can change history in their reenacting
exercises, Coby is quick to point out that every game ends with
a postmortem session in which the "real" history is
explained and set right.
"Reenacting" courses typically include several different
games. The fall semester featured "Athens After the Peloponnesian
War (403399 B.C.)," "Succession Struggles in the
Ming Dynasty (China in the 16th Century)" and "The
Trial of Anne Hutchinson (Colonial Massachusetts)."
This semester, 17 students are immersed in "The French Revolution
(1791)" and "Indian Independence (1945)." So far,
ten Smith faculty members-in departments ranging from history
to psychology and math to music-have participated in "reenactment"
training in order to be able to use the techniques in their courses.
As more professors and more institutions embrace the "reenacting"
pedagogy, more courses are being developed. Someone has already
created and taught a Shakespeare game ("The Tempest"),
a group of faculty is at work on a package of science games,
and Coby has heard of games under way on "International
Socialism and World War I" and "The Cuban Missile Crisis."
Coby, along with several colleagues, is creating a game on Henry
VIII. He's also planning one on the Constitutional Convention.
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Smith College is consistently ranked among the nation's foremost
liberal arts colleges. Enrolling 2,800 students from every state
and 55 other countries, Smith is the largest undergraduate women's
college in the country.