Georgia State Takes the Spotlight for Incorporating Innovative “Reacting to the Past” Concept to Teach History and Leadership
Georgia State Takes the Spotlight for Incorporating Innovative “Reacting to the Past” Concept to Teach History and Leadership
Georgia State University was recently featured in the Campus Spotlight section of the Reacting to the Past program website, highlighting how the university has used the innovative concept to teach history and leadership in a different and exciting way.
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. Reacting roles, unlike those in a play, do not have a fixed script and outcome, so while students will be obliged to adhere to the philosophical and intellectual beliefs of the historical figures they have been assigned to play, they must devise their own means of expressing those ideas persuasively, in papers, speeches, or other public presentations; and students must also pursue a course of action they think will help them win the game.