While most scholarship on simulation pedagogy focuses on the undergraduate classroom, this article examines the challenges and opportunities of using negoti-ation-based simulations in a PhD-level conflict theory course. Specifically, it exam-ines what learning endures months after the completion of the "Peacebuilding: The Challenge of Darfur" simulation from the National Museum of American Diplomacy, United States Department of State with students of varying backgrounds from around the world. Drawing on the experience of two different instructors and including data from focus group sessions with student participants, the paper examines the benefit of negotiation simulations within a theory-based PhD program. In particular, the article identifies several issues faculty members should consider when integrating simula-tions into their courses, including how to help students develop negotiation-related skills and how to build synergy across graduate classes to accentuate the learning benefits of such simulations. The findings suggest that while students may not recall specifics of the theories and readings assigned in association with the simulation, they have strong memories of the dynamic interactions of the simulation itself as well as actions that accelerated and/or detracted from reaching agreements.

The 20th Anniversary Special Issue of the Journal of Political Science Education reflects on the achievements of the journal and its emergence as a vital platform for political science educators to share innovative teaching practices, discuss views on the profession's changing nature, and underscore the essentiality and vitality of teaching and learning to the profession.

The Teaching Political Science in Times of Conflict symposium's collection of articles underscores the vital role of political science educators in fostering an understanding of democratic institutions and their vulnerabilities. As global tensions and domestic challenges to democracy continue to rise, the importance of teaching political science and equipping students with critical thinking skills cannot be overstated. This symposium aims to stimulate further debate and research on political science education, emphasizing the discipline's significance in navigating and understanding contemporary political landscapes.

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Online education, already an important part of higher In this paper, we expand the existing research on course modality (face-to-face, hybrid and online) and their impact on the students learning environment and their feelings of belonging to a larger university community. We use data from three surveys of over 2700 respondents consisting of students in introductory American Politics courses. We asked students their preferences for course format and their experiences in online, hybrid, and traditional classrooms with respect to expressing their individual voices, hearing from people from different backgrounds, and providing a sense of community. We are interested in assessing how students from diverse backgrounds (gender, race, disability status) experience these varied formats of learning. Overall, this study aims to better understand the potential benefits and challenges of different course formats, particularly for minoritized students.

Simulations and games have been shown to improve student learning and increase class engagement. They also encourage students to develop critical thinking skills and evaluate contending perspectives regarding complex real-world problems. However, implementing these projects in the classroom can be difficult for instructors and may have mixed results. In this chapter we first discuss the value of active learning approaches that involve both student game creation and game playing. We then outline our experience with a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project in which undergraduate students created a series of human rights games, reflecting on what worked and what did not. Finally, we provide some tips highlighting best practices for instructors regarding how to successfully achieve student learning goals through creating future games.

Recent reports indicate that employers are increasingly interested in hiring individuals that can think critically and are able to solve complex problems. Further, the ability to apply knowledge learned during college to real-world settings is a major sought-after skill. Overall, these findings emphasize the importance of teaching our students to think critically but also suggest the importance of including activities within our courses that promote the application of ideas. This paper presents research on short in-class activities to promote student learning in knowledge acquisition, application, and critical thinking. In particular, this paper considers the use of these activities in two different courses: Introduction to International Relations and American Foreign Policy. To assess student learning, this paper compares changes in student scores on these activities, as well as considers students' self-assessment of learning. The findings suggest that the use of these in-class assignments improves students' ability to define, apply, and analyze course concepts, and also increases student level of engagement.

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JPSE was established in 2005 in response to the need for a forum for research and thinking relating to political science pedagogy. As the journal approaches its 20th anniversary, it continues to provide a forum for disseminating work that informs teaching and learning practices, both within APSA and the international community of political scientists. JPSE remains one of the very few political science journals that has an exclusive focus on teaching and learning, and we view this focus as integral to serving the interests of the discipline. JPSE has many strengths, not least of which is its more recent inclusion as part of the APSA group of journals. The journal was initially led (2005–2012) by John Ishiyama and Marijke Breuning, both of whom were then based at Truman State University. The second editorial team (2012–2016) was led by Kerstin Hamann, Bruce Wilson, Philip H. Pollock III and Rebecca A. Glazier of the University of Central Florida. The third editorial team (2016–2022) was led by Victor Asal at the University of Albany and supported by Mitchell Brown at Auburn University, Shane Nordyke at the University of South Dakota, Joseph W. Roberts at Roger Williams University, Mark L. Johnson at Minnesota State Community and Technical College and J. Cherie Strachan at Central Michigan University. Over its history, the journal has expanded its reach with each editorial team, evolving from an initial focus on scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL), case studies, experiential-based learning and matters relating to assessment, to including an examination of methodologies and a focus on online teaching. The third editorial team sought to widen the journal’s scope by accepting new types of submissions, which led it to become a mainstream APSA journal. As the fourth editorial team, we are privileged to have a strong base to build upon and are grateful to the work of the previous editors. Our team reflects the diversity found in the broader discipline. We have assembled a close-knit, yet diverse, editorial team, with a female Editor-in-Chief, Charity Butcher. Our team represents gender, ethnic, geographic, and institutional diversity, with a total of five women, two People of Color (POC), and two editors from Europe. We consider that the balance of our editorial team will enable JPSE to have a stronger presence at major political science international conferences, particularly those focused on teaching and learning. Outside the United States, this includes the ECPR General Conference, the UACES annual conference, and the UK Political Studies Association annual conference.

Since the early 1990s, a significant amount of research has been dedicated to refining the causal mechanisms that lead to the diversionary use of force and the various conditions under which such diversionary actions are most likely. This article focuses specifically on the latter—highlighting the research on the various conditions that create opportunities for states to utilize diversionary tactics—while also emphasizing how these opportunities are connected to specific causal processes for diversionary conflict. While significant attention has been paid to the domestic factors that provide additional opportunities for or constraints on actors to utilize diversionary force, less research has considered the international and dyadic opportunities for diversionary force and the interaction and interplay of these domestic and international, or dyadic, factors. These international and dyadic factors specifically focus on those related to the potential target of diversionary conflict and are an important part of fully understanding the decision-making process of leaders contemplating diversionary tactics. Both the domestic and international opportunities for diversionary force identified in the literature will be considered, specifically those focusing on advancements made in understanding the international and dyadic dimensions of these opportunities and the characteristics of potential target states. While the movement toward identifying various opportunities for diversionary behavior, both domestic and international, or dyadic, is an important pathway in diversionary research, this approach comes with some significant challenges. First, diversionary motivations are extremely hard to “prove” since leaders have incentives to hide these motives. This problem is compounded as more opportunities for diversionary force are added to the mix—as these opportunities may, in themselves, provide motives for war. For example, rivalry and territorial disputes are shown as international opportunities for diversionary force, yet these factors are also known to be two of the most prominent causes of war between states. Thus, parsing out diversionary motives from other fundamental national security motives becomes increasingly difficult. While quantitative studies can help uncover broad patterns of potential diversionary behavior, they are less equipped to fully explain the ways that various domestic and international opportunities might interact. Nor can these studies demonstrate whether diversion was actual present within specific cases. Case studies can help fill these gaps by allowing more in-depth analysis of these potential diversionary opportunities. Overall, quantitative studies that help uncover patterns and qualitative studies that investigate diversionary tactics in a single case or set of cases are both important parts of the puzzle. To best understand diversionary conflict, researchers need to rely increasingly on both approaches.

The Scholarship on education and practice has recently encouraged the inclusion of writing assignments in the classroom. Writing-across-the-curriculum (WAC) programmes have been implemented across universities and colleges, promoting structured writing assignments outside of language-based programmes and courses. The collective knowledge on the subject highlights the effectiveness of frequent short assignments as being better for achieving learning goals, in comparison with more traditional, longer term papers often assigned in upper-division and graduate political science courses. This paper outlines our efforts to revise the curriculum in two of the courses in our policy-focused master’s program. In particular, we focus on two types of policy writing, policy memos and infographics. In this paper, we discuss the background of the program and courses, our choices of assignments, and their design and implementation. Further, we present evidence of how these assignments contributed to student learning in the courses.