A Simulation of the United States Senate

This book serves as a manual for students enrolled in semester-long US Senate simulations. The simulation tasks students with representing a particular state while inheriting a particular Senator’s voting history. Students then engage with their peers to write, introduce, mark up, debate, and adopt legislation, within an environment where the instructional staff play the key roles of the House of Representatives, the President, the Press, and public interest groups. The manual and simulation experience are designed to supplement classes on Congress and the Presidency and the political process. Building on the innovation of experiential learning opportunities, this book facilitates the connection of complex theoretical concepts to real-world applications through student reflection. Joshua Meyer-Gutbrod is Teaching Faculty at the University of South Carolina. Meyer-Gutbrod makes a valuable contribution to political science pedagogy. This text will guide students through an open-ended simulation of the U.S. Senate. Meyer-Gutbrod’s approach inspired my first attempt at incorporating simulation-based learning into my legislative politics course, and the result received rave reviews. I highly recommend to other instructors of legislative politics courses. – Frances Lee, Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Princeton University