Playing for Peace: Complex role-play gaming in high school history

Can the study of history help to prepare young people to navigate life in an increasingly complex, globalised, and hyperconnected world? What value can games add to secondary school history education when teachers have these goals in mind? What do teachers need to know about games—and about the nature of history as a discipline—to make effective use of games in their classroom programmes?

This case study tells the story of a complex peacebuilding role-play game, played over six class periods, by two Year 13 history classes and their two teachers at a Wellington school in late 2016.