“Reacting to the Past" (RTTP) consists of elaborate games, set in the past, in which students are assigned roles with “victory objectives” informed by seminal texts in the history of ideas.

Participants will learn about the curriculum by engaging in intensive two-day workshops on particular games, ranging from "The Threshold of Democracy: Athens in 403 B.C." and Defining a Nation: India, 1945 to new games in development on "America's Founding: The Constitutional Convention", “Kentucky 1861: a Nation in the Balance,” "Living History in 1894 Korea: The Kabo Reforms," and "Modernism vs. Traditionalism: Art in Paris, 1888-89." In addition to game sessions, participants will have discussions of a more general character on student motivation and teaching, general education, and the problems and possibilities of the RTTP approach.

RTTP was honored with the 2004 Theodore Hesburgh Award (funded by TIAA-CREF) as the nation's outstanding pedagogical innovation in undergraduate teaching and learning.

For further information, visit http://www.barnard.edu/reacting/conference/annual or email reacting@barnard.edu. The priority registration deadline is May 10, 2010.