Harnessing Students' Competitive Spirit: Using Reacting to the Past to Structure the Introductory Greek Culture Class

The author has used the Reacting to the Past game The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C. as inspiration for restructuring an entire introductory Greek Culture class. Students assume their roles in the game for the whole term and participate in additional role-playing activities which derive from the competitive essence of the pedagogy. A formal study conducted in two classes which followed this format showed that students believed they learned a significant amount about ancient Greek culture and history by playing the game and that the additional role-playing activities enhanced their understanding of the course material.