UNION TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Two West Clermont High School teachers took a classroom history simulation to a statewide audience this week, leading a session on game-based learning at the Ohio Council for the Social Studies’ annual conference.
Robin Hornberger and Maria Maples presented a session titled “Food Fight: A Reacting Game” at the conference, held Oct. 12-13 at the Ohioan Hotel & Event Center in Lewis Center, according to a West Clermont Local School District Facebook post. The two teachers walked fellow educators from across Ohio through a mock congressional subcommittee hearing, demonstrating how they run the exercise with their own students.
The session drew on “Reacting to the Past,” a role-playing teaching method developed in the history department at Barnard College in which students take on the identities of historical figures and argue their positions through structured debate rather than a standard lecture. High school teachers began adapting the college-level program for younger students starting in 2008, building shorter, classroom-scaled versions of the games for use in history and government courses.
Hornberger, who teaches American history and AP Government at West Clermont, was named the Ohio Council for the Social Studies’ Outstanding Secondary Social Studies Teacher for 2025, an honor the organization presents annually to one middle or high school educator in the state. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in American history and government from Ashland University.
This year’s OCSS conference carried the theme “250 and Beyond: Shaping Ohio’s Classrooms for the Future” and featured National Council for the Social Studies President Joe Schmidt and former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor as keynote speakers.
The information contained in this story was obtained from the West Clermont Local School District.