Teaching World Diplomacy Through Risk

Sometimes students have issues understanding why battles happened. For the most part they understand that battles are generally either in response to an attack or to gain more land. They don't always understand strategic battles designed to better position one side later on in the world. The easiest way to explain this is the game of Risk.

There is one slight issue and that is the fact that the game of Risk is a whole world game, thus in its normal format, it is only valid for teaching major world events such as the World Wars. However there are other formats that can be used for different battles, and if need be you could always create your own map.

Castle Risk(Europe+Russia and Turkish empire)

Napoleon Age Risk

By creating game maps that would allow students to participate in simulated battles or historical wars, some students will walk away with a much better understanding than usual. Using Risk is a method that plays directly into the theories of Howard Gardner. Playing a game of Risk to talk about world battles allows those that learn better when they can be a little more hands on and also it would be beneficial to those that learn better when they are allowed to interact with others.