Learning international trade by game in maritime business schools

Business trade is a very complex process and maritime students should acknowledge this complexity and understand various different components of the process and the interactions among them. Considering this complexity, teaching college students about the international trade can be a demanding and expansive process within the traditional learning context. Developments in instructional strategies helped educators to enhance learning environments with games and simulations providing students with enduring and in-depth learning experiences. The learning experiences included realistic trade scenario allowing students to simulate the process and explore possible results of their actions during the game. The conversations used during the game were derived from real business environment helping students to realize how their classroom learning was connected to actual international trade environment during this activity. The purpose of this research was to observe the effects of business simulation game on maritime business students' understanding of international trade process. The study design was a single group experimental and participants were consisted of 59 undergraduate maritime business school students studying in two Turkish universities. The data was collected through a Business Trade Simulation scale designed for this study. The results of the study illustrated that international trade game enhanced participants' knowledge and skills about international trade and students' motivation toward the game as well. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Huseyin Arasli