Playing Racially Stratified Monopoly in a Criminal Justice Classroom at an HBCU

• In Event: Pedagogy Tools in Criminal Justice Education

Abstract

Gamification is a pronounced pedagogical tool for boosting student engagement and achievement in the classroom. Available scholarship has underscored the importance of gamification in enhancing students’ 21st century skills (i.e., argumentation/reasoning, teamwork/collaboration, flexibility/adaptability), deepening their understanding of key concepts, principles, ideas, and/or points of contention within a particular discipline, and promoting positive student outcomes (i.e., grades, assessments, behavior). According to Teaching Sociology, gamification is an essential element of the sociology classroom. In sociology classrooms, Monopoly has been used to engage students in conversations around key sociological concepts, principles, ideas, and perspectives. What remains to be seen, however, is whether integrating Monopoly into the criminal justice classroom engenders similar or divergent effects on student outcomes. This paper describes how to play "Racially Stratified Monopoly with a Criminological Twist" and discusses the experiences of undergraduate students enrolled in a criminology course. The gameplay experiences of the students underscore the value of "Racially Stratified Monopoly with a Criminological Twist" as a pedagogical tool for engaging students in criminal justice classrooms and redefining the criminal justice classroom through a gamified approach.

Author

• Frank Wood, Norfolk State University