Effects of EU Simulation Games on Pupils' Political Competencies

Civics courses at school strive to promote pupils` political competencies, which according to the model of Detjen et al. (2012) incorporate content knowledge, abilities to make political judgements and take political action as well as motivational skills and attitudes. For achieving these goals, high hopes are placed on active learning tools (Reinhardt 2005), such as political simulation games (Massing 1998; Rappenglück 2004). These are expected, a.o., to give a basic understanding of the complexity of political processes; to convey experience-based knowledge; to show the meaning of politics for learners` everyday life; to make palpable the difficulties of finding political compromises; and to enhance participants` motivation and interest in politics. Thus, the teaching approach seems very suitable for addressing the central problems of teaching EU at school (Oberle & Forstmann 2015a). However, simulation games have also been regarded as demanding and time-consuming, with the „fun-factor“ outweighing the „learning factor“. This study addresses the open question, which effects political simulations have on pupils` political competencies, focusing on short EU simulation games well usable in everyday teaching practice and controlling for different background variables.  Analyzed are the effects of a 3-hour simulation game of the decision making of the European Parliament in three different policy areas, conducted by planpolitik GbR (www.planpolitik.de). The intervention study focuses on the competency dimensions content knowledge, motivation (interest in EU; internal and external political efficacy; willingness to take political action) and attitudes (e.g., general and performance-oriented EU attitudes; perceived relevance for everyday life).