Model United Nations Simulations Research Articles

Simulating alternative internationals: Geopolitics role-playing in UK schools

Simulation and role-play have a proven track record as pedagogic techniques to provide students with insights into geopolitics, diplomacy, and international relations. Since the first Model United Nations (MUN) in 1947, simulations have proliferated within secondary and tertiary educational settings. However, these activities overwhelmingly focus on recognised nation-states, neglecting polities that are not UN member states, but that are often acutely affected by conflict and human rights abuses. This paper is part of a broader project that is seeking to bring the realities and stories from such communities, territories, and peoples – a number of which have come together as the ‘Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization’ (UNPO) – to a wider audience. Loosely based on MUN simulations, the ‘Model UNPO’ exercise involves participants being assigned a UNPO member, researching that polity’s context and rights claims, and coming together for a structured role-play debate. Drawing on participant observation of Model UNPO exercises with 16–18 year old students at thirteen UK secondary schools we examine how geopolitics can be taught and learned within school classroom settings, how young people make sense of geopolitics, and how they imagine and articulate alternative internationals. We assess what simulation exercises can offer to understandings of the intersection of young peoples’ geopolitics and geographies of education. In doing so, we analyse how students draw on ‘known worlds’ and advocate for possible worlds through role-playing unrepresented diplomats, and examine the role of clause writing in the scripting of geopolitical imaginaries, and how role-playing forges empathy and solidarities. We conclude by making the case for foregrounding young people as critical and creative geopolitical thinkers.

Training for the United Nations in the Twenty-First Century; Professionalism Training on Leadership, Negotiation, and Gender for Model United Nations Simulations

Abstract The world needs people who understand the crucial importance of global governance. Training students to participate in a Model United Nations (MUN) simulation provides them with the critical thinking, negotiation, and diplomacy skills that prepare them to work in international relations positions and address negotiation and diplomacy challenges. This article provides a fresh look at why MUN is important by analyzing MUN training guides used to teach students how to participate in MUN simulations. It finds that the training guides offer excellent insight into the functions and structure of the United Nations, but little in the form of learning how to negotiate or engage in diplomacy. Specifically missing are discussions of leadership, negotiation from interest, not position (also known as principled negotiation), and how to train students to be inclusive and respond to discrimination or bias during negotiations. The article includes a description of active learning and learner-centered teaching techniques and provides insight into how a specific MUN team implemented professionalism training in the 2010s. The article is written in collaboration between an MUN advisor and students who trained as MUN delegates, integrating the voices and perspectives of those who train and those who are trained.

Political and International Affairs Simulations and College Students’ Civic Development

Abstract Political science professors frequently use simulations to try to enhance student learning. Beyond their use in experiential learning, prior research suggests that simulations may also improve student civic outcomes and promote political interest and engagement outside of the classroom. This study estimates the impact of political science simulations by examining students’ attitudes and behaviors before and after taking part in a simulation. We study whether participation in classroom and Model United Nations simulations leads to increases in student civic engagement, political efficacy, and appreciation of diverse viewpoints among college students using a comparison group difference-in-difference design. We find significant positive impacts of simulations on measures of civic engagement, which suggests that students who participate in simulations may take immediate and concrete steps to be more involved in social and political groups.

Situated learning in translator and interpreter training: Model United Nations simulations

Please fill up the following information accurately. (Please use Times New Roman, 12 pt. Situated learning in translator and interpreter training: Model United Nations simulations The necessity of incorporating both theory and practice in translation an interpretation pedagogy has always been emphasized by trainers at translation and interpretation departments. Situated learning activities, as most scholars agree, are environments where students can achieve deep learning by putting theory into practice. The view presented in this paper is that the Model United Nations (MUN) simulation, a situated learning environment, can profitably be applied in undergraduate translator and interpreter pedagogy and help students’ achieve deep learning mainly across the meta-cognitive knowledge domain. The data was gathered from the surveys of the outcomes pertaining to the spring terms in the academic years 2015-2016, 2016-2017, and 2017-2018 as well as the forms sent to students via university’s student information system by which they could evaluate and comment on the course, the trainer, and their own performances. The results of the assessments were further consolidated with two quizzes conducted each term in which the students were tested about the related terminologies and the debated topics. The results demonstrate strong metacognitive development among learners, deep learning achieved through the active participation in the simulations, and students’ being provided with the required knowledge and skills for their future careers. Information about Author(s)* Author 1 Author (Last name, First name) Hastürkoğlu, Gökçen Affiliated institution (University) Country Email address gokcen.hasturkoglu@atilim.edu.tr Department & Rank Corresponding author (Yes/No) Write only one corresponding author. Author 2 Author (Last name, First name) Affiliated institution (University) Country Email address Department & Rank Corresponding author (Yes/No) Author 3 Author (Last name, First name) Affiliated institution (University) Country Email address Department & Rank Corresponding author (Yes/No) Author 4 Author (Last name, First name) Affiliated institution (University) Country Email address Department & Rank Corresponding author (Yes/No)

Learning by Experiencing: Improving Student Learning Through a Model United Nations Simulation

Academic institutions and programs are increasingly using experiential learning and simulations with the observation that these pedagogical devices not only facilitate knowledge but they also provide an opportunity for skills and attitudinal development. The article seeks to determine the effect of experiential learning through simulations on students’ skills development. Specifically, this article examines whether participation in a Model United Nations (MUN) class affects self-reported skills development of students from a public university located in the southeastern United States. Using data from 83 students enrolled in a MUN class from 2011 to 2017, we explored whether there were statistically significant changes in students’ skills—including ability to think critically, to work as a team, to solve problems, to communicate effectively, to examine personal development, and to creatively apply knowledge. Data were analyzed using dependent (paired)-samples t-test. It was found that students’ self-reported skills after enrolling in the class were statistically significant higher than their self-reported skills prior to enrolling in the class with a large effect size. With this in mind, we argue that more Political Science departments should offer simulations and experiential learning devices such as the MUN to increase student success. Limitations to the study and implications for practice and future research are discussed.

ELF in Model United Nations Simulations. When East meets West

Abstract – MUN simulations can be considered a community of practice since they possess Wenger’s (1998) three criteria – mutual engagement, a negotiated joint enterprise, and a shared repertoire. House (2003) argues that ELF too can be considered a community of practice since “its diffuse alliances and communities of imagination and alignment fits ELF interactions well because ELF participants have heterogeneous backgrounds and diverse social and linguistic expectations” (p. 573). Speaking English as an L1 offers no guarantee of an ability to interact successfully with a wide variety of interlocutors; there are many varieties of English, many of which are mutually incomprehensible (Ur 2010) and similarly, native speakers of these many varieties of English are not guaranteed to be successful interlocutors with users of ELF (Litzenberg 2013). Indeed, English native speakers are in especially acute need of training to adjust to a lingua franca world (Carey 2013). This short paper will report on observations of ELF-speaking MUN delegates from Japan and Germany to get a sense of some of the shortcomings that native speakers display when communicating with ELF speakers in the context of MUN simulations and will make recommendations for their training.

Assessing Simulations: Including Third Party Stakeholders

Simulations work because they provide our students with performance learning opportunities. Within classes that focus on this performance learning model, the faculty member can assess the preparation for the conference but what about at the conference? Often during a competitive simulation, the faculty member cannot be everywhere at once. Assessment of performance at the conference therefore can be less than ideal. As a consequence, assessment might need to include third party stakeholders such as the leaders of the conference and fellow participants. Creating a new model of assessment that focuses on student presentation without focusing on the awards of the competition can include outside stakeholders. This research centers on assessment tools (for both a state legislative simulation and a Model United Nations simulation) and challenges of including third party stakeholders in assessment.

The Model United Nations simulation and the student as producer agenda

AbstractThe authors of this paper introduced an assessed Model United Nations simulation as a core component of the undergraduate politics and international relations programmes at the University of Lincoln. The authors use their experience of creating and delivering this module to reflect upon the institutional implementation of a student as producer agenda to guide curriculum development and pedagogy. They conclude that many existing trends in the teaching and learning of politics and international relations are congruent with the emerging focus in British higher education on research-engaged teaching and learning and the development of students as producers of knowledge. They conclude by suggesting that these priorities are perhaps best implemented at degree programme level and that they should take greater account of a broad notion of internationalisation and the value of simulation-driven teaching and learning.

UN Studies and the Curriculum as Active Learning Tool

Active learning as a means to achieve qualitative, that is “deep,” learning has become an accepted form of learning and teaching in higher education. The subject of UN studies has been at the forefront of active learning since the introduction of Model United Nations in the early twentieth century. However, the fact that active learning has become “fashionable” raises the question of whether its application continues to achieve its intentions and therefore its full potential. This article questions the promise of active learning in UN studies by analyzing the way in which students learn about the UN, be that in Model United Nations simulations or in the classroom. It demonstrates how conventions of UN teaching (and research) obstruct the achievement of true deep learning and develops principles for a new curriculum that acts as active learning tool, that is, one that supports students understanding of the subject. These principles are developed into outlines of “best practice” curricula.