Online History Simulation: Apply Gandhi Protest Principles to a Present Day Protest Issue Curriculum

Abstract

This history simulation follows a unit on the nonviolent protest movement in India against the British. Students identify his individual protest activities and sort them into six principles of protest. This creates a toolkit they can use and adapt for a protest issue that is important for their small group. The small group selects a modern protest issue, adds new specific protest activities that fit within the six broad categories, and develops a detailed action plan. This allows the immediate application of what they had just learned in the unit about Gandhi to a real-world issue that they select. Some students report that they have used parts of these plans with their own community activism. The simulation receives high approval by the students, often listed as their top learning experience during the course. As noted above, an evaluation form is completed by the students. It is partially a reflection on what they learned and partially an evaluation with suggestions to change. Often, those changes are reflected in the curriculum which is updated annually. This simulation has been used each semester for the past seven years. It has been effectively used in classes of 30 by dividing the students into smaller groups.