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This volume brings together both political and educational scientists. While educational research literature has so far not systematically addressed the tool of simulations of decision-making, political scientists have hardly used insights from research on assessment or on motivation and interest of students. Almost all political science publications on simulations merely discuss how to implement the tool in class and fall short of providing evidence of the effects on student outcomes such as increased interest and performance. Combining the two disciplines is mutually enriching. Political science benefits from state of the art educational science measuring and testing of the claims made by the proponents of simulations, while educational sciences adds the systematic analysis of simulations of decision-making to their list of empirical objects, which also adds insights to the theories on the affective component of student learning. It is the explicit aim of the volume to address how simulating decision-making environments fosters learning. Implications for research and practice regarding student learning are addressed in all chapters.

Learning Patterns in Higher Education brings together a cutting edge international team of contributors to critically review our current understanding of how students and adults learn, how differences and changes in the way students learn can be measured in a valid and reliable way, and how the quality of student learning may be enhanced. There is substantial evidence that students in higher education have a characteristic way of learning, sometimes called their learning orientation (Biggs 1988), learning style (Evans et al. 2010) or learning pattern (Vermunt and Vermetten 2004). However, recent research in the field of student learning has resulted in multi-faceted and sometimes contradictory results which may reflect conceptual differences and differences in measurement of student learning in each of the studies. This book deals with the need for further clarification of how students learn in higher education in the 21st century and to what extent the measurements often used in learning pattern studies are still up to date or can be advanced with present methodological and statistical insights to capture the most important differences and changes in student learning. The contributions in the book are organized in two parts: a first conceptual and psychological part in which the dimensions of student learning in the 21st century are discussed and a second empirical part in which questions related to how students'learning can be measured and how it develops are considered. Areas covered include: Cultural influences on learning patterns Predicting learning outcomes Student centred learning environments and self-directed learning Mathematics learning This indispensable book covers multiple conceptual perspectives on how learning patterns can be described and effects and developments can be measured, and will not only be helpful for ‘learning researchers'as such but also for educational researchers from the broad domain of educational psychology, motivation psychology and instructional sciences, who are interested in student motivation, self-regulated learning, effectiveness of innovative learning environments, as well as assessment and evaluation of student characteristics and learning process variables.