What is Reacting?

Reacting as a FYS:

Reacting to the Past is an interdepartmental, first-year seminar based on historical role-playing. In it students enact moments of high drama from the distant and not-so-distant past, and from cultures strange and engrossing. The seminar consists of two or three competitive games, with subjects varying depending on the section. These games include: "The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C."; "Confucianism and the Succession Crisis of the Wanli Emperor"; "The Trial of Anne Hutchinson"; "Henry VIII and the Reformation Parliament"; "Rousseau, Burke, and the Revolution in France, 1791"; "The Trial of Galileo"; "Kansas 1999, Evolution and Creationism"; and "Defining a Nation: Gandhi and the Indian Subcontinent on the Eve of Independence, 1945."

In the "Athens" game, for example, students constitute themselves as the Athenian Assembly after the Peloponnesian War; assigned roles corresponding to the factions of the day, they quarrel about such issues as the democratic character of the regime, the resumption of an imperial foreign policy, the fate of Socrates, etc. In the "Wanli" game they are the Hanlin Academy of 16th century China, where a succession struggle inside the Ming dynasty is underway. In the "Hutchinson" game they are the General Court of Massachusetts, conducting the trial of Anne Hutchinson, accused of heresy. Similarly in the other games, students are members of a court of law or legislative body. Class sessions are run by students; the instructor sets up the games and functions as an adviser. Students work in groups, debate issues, negotiate agreements, cast votes, and strive to achieve the group's objectives. Some students take on individual roles, such as Thomas More in the "Henry VIII" game, Lafayette in the "French Revolution" game, or Mahatma Gandhi in the "India" game. Course materials include game rules, historical readings, detailed role assignments, and classic texts (e.g., Plato's Republic, the Analects of Confucius, Machiavelli's The Prince, Rousseau's Social Contract).

Papers are all game- and role-specific; there are no exams. WI

History:

The “Reacting to the Past” (RTTP) consortium, a group of 40 colleges and universities that have developed the RTTP pedagogy, invites other institutions to join them.

“Reacting to the Past” (RTTP) consists of elaborate games, set in the past, in which students are assigned roles informed by classic texts in the history of ideas. Class sessions are run entirely by students; instructors advise and guide students and grade their oral and written work. It seeks to draw students into the past, promote engagement with big ideas, and improve intellectual and academic skills.

Pioneered in the late 1990s by Mark C. Carnes, Professor of History at Barnard College, RTTP has undergone considerable development and expansion. In addition to the eight games currently published by Pearson Education, another twelve games are being developed by teams of faculty from across the nation.

All of the games are set in the past, and thus might be regarded as history, but each game also explores multiple additional disciplines. Part of the intellectual appeal of RTTP is that it transcends disciplinary structures. In addition to games currently published in the RTTP Series (Longman), the consortium seeks to expand the curriculum by supporting faculty workshops and collaboration on new game designs that explore a variety of historical moments in the humanities and sciences.

The consortium was established by six institutions (Barnard College, Loras College, Queens College, Smith College, Trinity College, and Pace University) in 2001-2002. Initially founded to support the development, implementation, and assessment of the RTTP pedagogy with support of a grant from FIPSE, U.S. Department of Education, the consortium has grown as additional institutions adopted RTTP. The Consortium is managed by the ten-person RTTP Advisory Board (RAB), drawn from senior scholars and administrators from as many institutions. The RAB also serves as an editorial board to approve materials for publication by Pearson Education and provides formative evaluation for authors during game development. Through the main program office at Barnard, the Consortium provides faculty development support through an interactive web site, regional workshops, and an annual conference to introduce the pedagogy to new faculty and to build a network of scholar-teachers.

RTTP was honored with the 2004 Theodore Hesburgh Award for pedagogical innovation. The project has received developmental support from the Christian A. Johnson Endeavor Foundation, Teagle Foundation, and FIPSE, U.S. Department of Education. RTTP has also been featured in Change magazine, the Chronicle Review, the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education; the Christian Science Monitor; and elsewhere.