Centralight

Reacting to the past "¡Viva la revolución!" yells CMU senior Katie Buning as she storms out of her 11 a.m. history course. No one is surprised. It's usual business for students in professor Jon Truitt's Latin American Experience class. Buning was assigned the role of Pancho Villa, a prominent general in the Mexican Revolution to participate in a history scenario using "Reacting to the Past" pedagogy. RTTP consists of elaborate games, set in the past, where students learn by taking on roles informed by classic texts in the history of ideas. RTTP is a method educators around the nation are implementing to increase student information retention. It seeks to draw students into the past, promote engagement with big ideas, and improve intellectual and academic skills. It is being practiced in over 300 universities in the United States and abroad. "I wanted discussions of the material to be more exciting and more engaging," says Truitt. "I wanted it to be less of me asking the students questions about the reading and more about them desiring to know more about the material." Truitt, a CMU professor in the history department, began implementing RTTP into his Latin American Experience curriculum in 2009. He decided to try the method to overcome the challenge of getting students to engage with assigned reading beyond a superficial level. in the present CMU class engages students using nationally adopted pedagogy There is no fixed script or outcome. Students must rely on intellectual and academic skills to prevail in complex situations. They have to use skills such as speaking, writing, critical thinking, problem solving, leadership and teamwork in order to achieve their character objectives. "I use the pedagogy as a way to get students to think about history in a different light. In the end I hope that students, majors and non- majors alike, get as excited about history as I am," says Truitt. During the game students must adhere to the philosophical beliefs and objectives of their character assignments, which can be different from many other classmates. Though the past can never be changed, the outcome of the games may turn out drastically different from actual history. "Reacting to the Past is a lot of fun," says Buning. "I'm getting to know my classmates and learning things about the Mexican Revolution I never would have learned from the usual class lecture." Class sessions are completely run by students, while instructors guide and grade both written and oral work. Participation is mandatory and it is common for students to meet and email each other outside of class. To prepare for game sessions, Truitt gives students various supplemental materials to read. After two weeks of lecture on the game subject, students are required to write an essay on their character assignments. In order for students to stay connected, Truitt uses avenues like email, Blackboard and Facebook. Students constantly have access to each other's papers and different materials that revolve around the game. Classes implementing RTTP can be taken to fulfill CMU's University Program or electives for specific majors or minors. The pedagogy has been adopted in five courses this past semester and the number is set to increase for 2012. CMU senior Katie Buning , left, and sophomore Michaela Mack, right, take the lead as Pancho Villa and Francisco Madero for Professor Jon Truitt's Latin American Experience class. "I want students to have a greater understanding of history sources written at the time and their critical thinking skills challenged," says Truitt. "I hope the pedagogy encourages students to look at what is happening around them in their daily lives from more than one perspective." • The future of Reacting to the Past at CMU This coming July CMU's College of Humanities and Social and Behavioral Sciences will host a game development workshop. The goal is to bring scholars and students from differing fields together to share and brainstorm ideas for future games. Though RTTP pedagogy has only been used in the history department at CMU, games have been developed and used by people in fields from the humanities to natural and physical sciences. Over the last two years the history department, First-Year Experience program, the Faculty Center for Innovative Teaching and College of Graduate Studies have supported additional training for faculty and graduate students implementing RTTP into their courses. The history department currently is considering methods of expanding the pedagogy at CMU with undergraduates as well as graduate students. • BY SHARASA HENLEY, '11 centralight spring '12 19 PHOTO BY PEGGY BRISBANE

• Cover