According to Resnick and Wilensky (1998), while role-playing activities have been commonly used in social studies classrooms, they have been infrequently used in science and mathematics classrooms. Speculate on why role playing activities may not be promoted in math and science and elaborate on your opinion on whether activities such as role playing should be promoted. Draw upon direct quotations from embodied learning theories and research in your response.
Why role play might not be used in science
Role play can be used to embody metaphors and analogies. Given that these have limitations where novices internalize similarities that are inaccurate or unintended, teachers would still have to explicitly explain the metaphor/analogy (Niebert et al , 2012). As well, experts might perceive the abstract concepts as concrete (e.g., chemicals are real) and just speak directly about them. As well, metaphors and analogies can fail. If the source is not embodied, the item is ambiguous due to differences in colloquial and academic use, or students are missing an experience, the metaphor can facilitate alternate conceptions (Niebert et al, 2012). The role plays that are used in a class may be constructed rather than embodied. Role plays have a script and are consequently constructed. However, the experience within a role play can be embodied depending on the script.
A teacher might spend a long time creating a great role play for their students. They construct the knowledge based on their experiences and map an abstract concept from their schema. However, when sharing this with students, the students may not understand or have difficulties because the role play is not embodied. It’s hard for the students to connect to the teacher’s knowledge construction and thus reject the teacher’s role play (Niebert et al, 2012). Due to the differences in the teacher’s and student’s knowledge landscapes, the meaning of the role play is not shared.
At the same time, role plays usually involve acting. If humans are representing particles, there are many human features that could be focussed upon rather than whatever the role play is attempting to highlight. I often find that the most common role play used is to representing bonding or forces of attraction. This is tricky because you can’t really model strength (the dating and love analogy might be used, but students might focus on the identity of their classmates instead) and the stochastic nature of the particles is not shown (students tend to stand stiffly).
The effort from constructing a role play and low return may make role plays undesirable in science classes. It might be “easier” if direct instruction or a simulation is used instead. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that role plays should not be used at all. There are good use cases for role plays.
Example of a good role play
In my Advanced Inorganic Chemistry course there was one specific role play/metaphor that really stuck with me. My professor was talking about the metathesis mechanism. I can’t remember who the scientists were, but they were able to dance their paper to show how the mechanism worked:
- Two couples independently dance
- The two couples join together to form a box
- The group separates into two couples, different from the initial
This was a good role play because:
- mechanism and dance both embody movement: movement of atomic connections vs. movement of people
- dance focusses upon the dancer: using this schema, the focus is on how the dancers are interacting. Other information about them is dismissed
- having users dance focusses upon the before, transition, and after formations
- focussed analogy: we don’t examine the hand holding between dancers or the relationships between the dancers. Instead the pairing is connected to the linkage between atoms.
Potential of role play in science
I don’t think role plays should be dismissed as a tool in teaching science. Overall, I think if an experience can be embodied and experienced, this is how students should learn it. However, for abstract concepts, metaphors, analogies, and role plays can be useful. I would still prefer to use simulations if possible, but alternate expressions can be useful. I think they would be a good entry point to learning.
An example of a role play I might use is a human circuit to teach Grade 9 Science (electricity unit). This is a constructed role play but it does involve embodiment when the students start participating:
- have two students represent a battery (one positive end, one negative end)
- have students join the circuit by forming a closed loop
- the student representing the negative end of the battery sends high tens (high fives with two hands) in the direction towards the student representing the positive end of the battery
- high tens are passed from person to person
- add in a student to represent a light bulb
- if the high tens are successfully transferred from negative end to positive end, then the light bulb will light up
- removing students from the loop and breaking it opens the circuit
- can demonstrate parallel circuits by creating two branches from one student (the current is split, splitting is done by transferring just one high five into each of the branches)
I could also see myself having students create their own metaphors, analogies, and role plays to explain concepts. They would also be prompted to identify limitations and follow up assessments that should be used. Having students translate their learning into different forms can help them strengthen their schema.
References
Niebert, K., Marsch, S., & Treagust, D. F. (2012). Understanding needs embodiment: A theory‐guided reanalysis of the role of metaphors and analogies in understanding science. Science Education, 96(5), 849-877. doi: 10.1002/sce.21026