Heelotia: A Cross-Cultural Simulation

Comprehensive Unit15 pagesGrade Level: Elementary – Community College Heelotia is a simulation designed to provide students with an experimental or discovery exercise in cross-cultural relations. The simulation is designed to be a part of a more extensive study of cultural perceptions and can be used in an exploration of one's own community as well as that of more geographically distant cultures. Every culture operates according to universally acknowledged, though often unwritten, "rules" of behavior. In this simulation, the rules of the two imaginary cultures, Heelotia and Hokia, are introduced to the participants. Ambiguity has been built into the simulation to place the burden on the participants to make personal decisions regarding their behavior when they come in contact with the other culture, just as we must do when we venture into other cultures in the real world. The activity allows each participant to experience how he/she chooses to mediate personal and group norms and