Constitutional Convention 

This simulation was originally created by my colleague, coauthor, and friend Florian Justwan (University of Idaho).  We have implemented this simulation in college classrooms and middle school classrooms.

Information on the simulation is included below.  You can download an excerpt of the background material for this simulation here: Constitutional Convention (Justwan and Fisher). If you need more information, please contact my colleague or me via email (Sarah Fisher’s sfisher@ehc.edu & Florian Justwan’s fjustwan@uidaho.edu).

Central Premise: a country just overthrew an authoritarian leader. The four major ethnic groups of the country convene in the capital in order to write a new democratic constitution.

Content Covered: understand the advantages and disadvantages of various constitutional elements such as federalism/unitarism, presidentialism/parliamentarism and the electoral system.

Citation: detailed discussion of this simulation appears in

Fisher, Sarah & Florian Justwan. 2017.  “Classroom Convention: Teaching Constitutional Design Through Simulation.” Social Studies Research and Practice.  12(1): 84-94.