Cross-cultural simulation to advance student inquiry

Abstract

This article reviews how and why the authors have used the cross-cultural simulation BAFA BAFA in a 1styear social sciences inquiry course on social identity. The article discusses modifications made to Shirts’s original script for BAFA BAFA, how the authors conduct the postsimulation debriefing, key aspects of the student-written reflection of the simulation, and research results on how students perceive and rate BAFA BAFA relative to their learning. Students enrolled in the course find the simulation to be important to various aspects of their learning, including helping them to understand cultural diversity. This is particularly true for students who score highly on measures of deep learning, that is, the ability to connect course content with meanings in other situations and experiences in reflective ways.