Teaching of Geography in the Secondary School by means of "Simulation Game" : A case of Point Roberts, activities of a working unit of the High School Geography Project

Abstract

The writer proposes to incorporate simulation game in the school class room of geography. In this connection, discussions are made about this new learning tool, referring to the experiments in the United States. The High School Geography Project of The Association of American Geographers (HSGP) has adopted as the simulation game or the educational game as a "new" learning tool The method used in the school classroom is called "simulation game", because it is a kind of combination of the elements of simulation and games. These HSGP have incorporated simulation games in its activities. The following working units come under this category: Portsville. Metab Company Activity, Game of Farming, Section, and Point Roberts. "Political Geography", an unit of the course entitled "Geography in an Urban Age", deals with the interplay between geography and politics, being composed of five activities. It is seen that two of these five activities are run by means of simulation game. The first activity "Section", one of simulation game activities, brings students in regional competition for the allocation of public fund in a hypothetical state. The final activity "Point Roberts" is a simulation game activity in which students arbitrate a fictitious boundary dispute between the United States and Canada in Point Roberts, an actual place. There are six major parts in the activity, each of which is arranged to be completed in a day. Students play a role as members of the International Joint Commission, Comprising United States and Canadian negotiating teams, and the Arbitration Commission, and also as private or individual citizens who have been involved in an international boundary dispute. The value of simulation game in HSGP curriculum materials is that they bring a dimension of reality into the classroom. Games can provide students with vicarious experience. 'What is more important is that HSGP simulation games illustrate a variety of concepts and skills. Simulation game is helpful in the teaching of geography in the high school in Japan. Many of the students and teachers in Japan may misunderstand simulation game a mere "Playing". However, there is much hope in the development of simulation game material for the development of the geographical education in Japan.