In Minds on Fire, Mark Carnes shows how role-immersion games channel students’ competitive (and sometimes mischievous) impulses into transformative learning experiences.
ISBN: 978-0-674-73535-4
Books, Essays, and Articles
BOOKS, ESSAYS, and ARTICLES
FEATURED BOOKS
Playing to Learn provides classroom practice and research studies that verify Reacting to the Past (RTTP) as a high impact practice for student learning and engagement.
ISBN: 978-3-319-61746-6
Playing to Learn is available for purchase here.
Professor Nicolas Proctor, currently the Chair of the Editorial Board for the Reacting Consortium, guides game designers through the best practices for creating effective and engaging Reacting to the Past games.
ISBN: 978-1-460-91690-2
FEATURED ESSAYS
- Flaherty, Colleen. "Scaling Up High-Impact Instruction." Inside Higher Ed, September 28, 2016.
- Bowen, José. "Reacting to the Past Will Revive your Teaching." Teaching Naked Blog, July 15, 2016.
- Greenbaum, Daniella J. "How to Think About the Past." Commentary, June 23, 2016.
- Karabin, Sherry. "Reenacting the Past: Student Role-Playing Make Major Historical Events Come Alive in the Classroom. " Barnard Magazine, Fall 2015, 24-27.
- O'Sullivan, Anna. "Leading American History Blog Features Prof. Mark Carnes' Innovative Teaching Techniques." Barnard News, September 15, 2015.
- Watson, Keri. "There's a Game for That: Teaching Art History with 'Reacting to the Past'." Art History Teaching Resources, April 17, 2015.
- "Five Points on Change in the College Classroom." Ed Policy Group, December 9, 2014.
- Carnes, Mark C. "From Plato to Erikson: How the War on 'Bad Play' Has Impoverished Higher Education." Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, November 21, 2014.
- Carnes, Mark C. "Role Immersion Games in the Higher Ed Classroom [Podcast]." Teaching in Higher Ed, October 30, 2014.
- Carnes, Mark C. "Plato's War on Play." The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 29, 2014.
- Lang, James. "Stop Blaming Students for Your Listless Classroom: How the Use of Games as a Teaching Methodology Has the Potential to Break the Long History of Student Disengagement in College Learning." (Part 3) The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 29, 2014.
- Lang, James. "How Students Learn from Games: In the Second of a Three-Part Series, a Professor Looks at the Use of Simulation Games in the Classroom." (Part 2) The Chronicle of Higher Education, August 25, 2014.
- Lang, James. "Being in Nehru for 2 Days: In the First of a Three-Part Series, a Professor Looks at the Use of Simulation Games in the Classroom." (Part 1) The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 21, 2014.
- Schaller, Peggy. "Can (Role-) Playing the French Revolution En Français Also Teach the Eighteenth Century?" Digital Defoe, Fall, 2014.
- Berrett, Dan. "Mob Rule, Political Intrigue, Assassination: A Role-Playing Game Motivates History Students." The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 09, 2012.
- Carnes, Mark C. "Setting Students' Minds on Fire." The Chronicle of Higher Education, March 6, 2011.
- Houle, Amanda. "Listening to Students: Reacting to 'Reacting'." Change magazine, July/August 2006.
- Carnes, Mark C. "Inciting Speech." Change magazine, March/April 2005.
- **Winner of the 2005 William Gilbert Award (AHA) for the best article on teaching history**
- "Making the Past Come Alive." Letters to the Editor by Frank G. Kirkpatrick and Larry Carver in response to Mark Carnes' article in the Chronicle Review, November 12, 2004.
- Carnes, Mark C. "Being There: The Liminal Classroom." Chronicle Review, October 8, 2004.
PEER REVIEWED ARTICLES AND ASSESSMENTS
In reverse-chronological order:
- Secord, James A, David Pace, Yidi Wu, Jessica Blatt, Sean Jacobs, Saundra Schwartz, Rebecca Ard Boone, Suzanne M. Marilley, and M. Alison Kibler. “Reviews of Role-Playing Classroom Games: Reacting to the Past.” The American Historical Review 125, no. 1 (February 2020): 146–59. https://doi.org/10.1093/ahr/rhaa081.
- Clary, Katie Stringer. "Reacting to the (Public) Past™: Innovations in Public History Pedagogy" International Public History, 2.1 (2019)
- Gasper-Hulvat, Marie. "Gaming the Guerrilla Girls", Journal for Research & Practice in College Teaching, 3:2 (2018), pp 29-33.
- Joyce, Kathryn E, Andy Lamey, and Noel Martin. "Teaching Philosophy Through a Role-Immersion Game: Reacting to the Past", Teaching Philosophy, 41:2 (June 2018), pp175-198. DOI: 10.5840/teachphil201851487
- Buchanan, Thomas C. and Edward Palmer. "Role immersion in a history course: Online versus face-to-face in Reacting to the Past", Computers & Education, Vol 108 (May 2018), pp 85-95.
- Albright, Christine L. "Harnessing Students' Competitive Spirit: Using Reacting to the Past to Structure the Introductory Greek Culture Class" in The Classical Journal, Vol. 112, No. 3 (February-March 2017), pp 364-379.
- Weidenfeld, Matthew C. and Kenneth E. Fernandez. "Does Reacting to the Past Increase Student Engagement? An Empirical Evaluation of the Use of Historical Simulations" in Teaching Political Theory, Journal of Political Science Education (May 2016), DOI: 10.1080/15512169.2016.1175948.
- Olwell, Russell and Azibo Stevens. "'I had to double check my thoughts': How the Reacting to the Past Methodology Impacts First-Year College Student Engagement, Retention, and Historical Thinking" in The History Teacher 48, No. 3 (May 2015), pp 561-572.
- Weston, Anthony. "From Guide on the Side to Impresario with a Scenario" in College Teaching 63, No. 3 (June 2015), pp 99-104.
- Burke, Kevin R. "Roleplaying Music History: Honing General Education Skills via 'Reacting to the Past'" in Journal of Music History Pedagogy [S.I.], v. 5, n. 1, p. 1-21, apr. 2014.
- Lazrus, P. K. and G. K. McKay, "The Reacting to the Past Pedagogy and Engaging the First Year Student", in J. E. Groccia (Ed.), L. Cruz (assoc. Ed.) To Improve the Academy: Resources for Faculty, Instructional, and Organizational Development. Colorado: POD (Professional and Organizational Development network). San Francisco: Jossey Bass 2013, pp 315-416.
- Henderson, David E. and Susan K. Henderson. "Challenging the Food Pyramid - A Reacting to the Past Simulation Game for Chemistry and Nutrition Courses." in Keith Symcox, ed., Using Food to Stimulate Interest in the Chemistry Classroom, ACS Symposium Series, American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 2013.
- Gorton, William and Jonathan Havercroft. "Using Historical Simulations to Teach Political Theory." Journal of Political Science Education 8, No. 1 (Jan 2012): 50-68.
- Burney, John, Richard Gid Powers, and Mark Carnes. "Reacting to the Past: A New Approach to Student Engagement and to Enhancing General Education." White Paper Report submitted to the Teagle Foundation, 2010.
- Kelly, Kathleen A. "A Yearlong General Education Course Using “Reacting to the Past” Pedagogy to Explore Democratic Practice." International Journal of Learning 16.11 (2009): 147-55.
- Lightcap, Tracy. "Creating Political Order: Maintaining Student Engagement through Reacting to the Past." PS: Political Science and Politics (2009), 42: 175-179.
- Stroessner, Steven J., Laurie Susser Beckerman, and Alexis Whittaker. "All the World’s a Stage? Consequences of a Role-Playing Pedagogy on Psychological Factors and Writing and Rhetorical Skill in College Undergraduates."Journal of Educational Psychology 101 (2009), 605–620.
- Anderson, Carl A. and T. Keith Dix. "'Reacting to the Past' and the Classics Curriculum: Rome in 44 BCE." Classical Journal 103.4 (2008), 449-55.
- Henderson, David E. "Implementing Methodological Secularism: The Teaching and Practice of Science in Contentious Times," in Secularism & Science in the 21st Century (2008).
- Higbee, Mark D. "How Reacting to the Past Games 'Made Me Want to Come to Class and Learn': An Assessment of the Reacting Pedagogy." In Jeffrey L. Bernstein, ed., Making Learning Visible: The Scholarship of Learning at EMU. Ypsilanti, MI: Eastern Michigan University, 2008.
- Porter, Adam."Role-Playing and Religion: Using Games to Educate Millenials." Teaching Theology & Religion 11, No. 4. (2008), 230-235.
- Davison, Ann and Sue Lantz Goldhaber. "Integration, Socialization, Collaboration: Inviting Native and Non-Native English Speakers into the Academy Through 'Reacting to the Past'", in Reclaiming the Public University: Conversations on General & Liberal Education (2007).
- Hughes, Amy E., Jill Stevenson, and Mikhail Gershovich. "Community through Discourse: Reconceptualizing Introduction to Theatre." Theatre Topics, Vol. 16, No. 1 (March 2006).
- Lee, Joseph Tse-Hei. "Teaching Nonviolence in Times of War." Academic Exchange Quarterly 9, no. 2 (Summer 2005): 240-245.
- Popiel, Jennifer J. Review: Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1791. H-France Review Volume 5 (August 2005), No. 84.
- Slater, Niall W. "Re-Inventing the Trivium: Debate, Dialogue--and Empathy." LiberalArtsOnline Volume 5, Number 5, May 2005.