Using a modified version of SIMSOC to promote active learning in crime causation and response in an unjust society

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article assesses how an interactive simulation game, a modified version of Simulated Society (hereinafter ‘SIMSOC-modified’), was used for teaching a theoretical criminology course in a Hong Kong university. Its use was intended to enable students to experience inequalities, in terms of wealth and power. The primary focus was to observe how participating in SIMSOC-modified impacted students’ knowledge of and attitudes toward crime causation and their intentions to engage in activism and radicalism. The findings showed that SIMSOC-modified promoted students’ active learning, resulting in cognitive and attitudinal changes toward the social causes of crime and increased intention to radically support the social groups they closely identified with. Rather than solely relying on didactic lectures and tutorials, we found strong support for the use of SIMSOC-modified in teaching crime causation and responses.