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 embodied learning in your response.
In my initial reflection on this question I examined my own use of role play and found that I have used traditional role play in most subject areas however not as often in the areas of math or science. Role play has been a strategy I use in Language arts, Religion, Health and Social Studies to help students connect with different concepts we have studied, to encourage student engagement in meaningful learning and to promote critical thinking/communication skills. To continue my exploration I think it is important to define embodied learning. According to Winn (2002) “…cognition is embodied in physical activity, that this activity is embedded in a learning environment, and that learning is a result of adaptation of the learner to the environment and the environment to the learner”(p. 1). I do believe that students learn by actively participating in authentic activities to construct knowledge collaboratively. However in the areas of math and science this belief has translated into active hands on activities or students using movement to illustrate life cycles, foundations of buildings and in math modeling of 2 d shapes or representing angles. The question for me was why?
According to Resnick and Wilensky (1998) the reason for this is that “In social-studies activities, a major goal is to help students adopt the perspective of another person. But mathematics and science classes typically discourage this type of perspective-taking; science is usually taught as a process of detached observation and analysis of phenomena, not active participation within phenomena”(p. 1). Colella (2000) posits that science role-playing activities do not necessarily help students to think about the underlying mechanisms of the topic and tend to reflect large-scale illustrations. Students may lack a sense of presence/connection when attempting to act out complex or invisible phenomena thus limiting their ability to embody themselves within the environment.
To address the lack of role-playing in the sciences and to promote students’ sense of presence, Colella (2000) presents Thinking Tags, small, communicating computers, allowing students to experience the effects of a virus within a population through direct participation with their peers. One of the most important findings from the use of Thinking Tags was that students behaved as though the environment was real – they took on the roles to which they were assigned. Winn (2002) portrays presence as “the belief that you are “in” the artificial environment” (p.14)”. Student sense of presence increased as they embodied the subject material, embedded themselves into the environment and adapted to the environment thus promoting their understanding of the material. According to Colella “Participatory Simulations can bring connected science to the classroom without forcing students to abandon the exploration of scientifically important problems”. Similarly Roschelle (2003) states that in participatory simulations “Students have rich conceptual resources for reasoning about and thoughtfully acting in playful spaces, and thus can more easily become highly engaged in the subject matter” (p. 5).
I think role play activities such as these promote scientific inquiry, problem solving and reasoning skills as students are immersed in the computer simulated environment. The readings in this section have certainly given me food for thought. I had not considered using hand held devices for role play activities. However with the direction my board is taking in terms of allowing students to use their personal devices in school and the initiative to make all of our schools wireless, this may be a possibility in the future. The possibilities of using student owned devices to promote these kinds of activities in math and science classrooms may lead to opportunities to facilitate this kind of student interaction.
References
Colella, V. (2000). Participatory simulations: Building collaborative understanding through immersive dynamic modeling. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 9(4), 471-500.
Resnick, M., & Wilensky, U. (1998). Diving into complexity: Developing probabilistic decentralized thinking through role-playing activities. Journal of Learning Sciences, 7(2).
Roschelle, J. (2003). Unlocking the learning value of wireless mobile devices. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 19(3), pp. 260-272.
Winn, W. (2002). Learning in artificial environments: Embodiment, embeddedness, and dynamic adaptation. Technology, Instruction, Cognition and Learning, 1(1), 87-114.
Post Responses
1. Subject: Re:Why not role play in Science and Mathematics Classrooms? Topic: MC-L3: Embodied Learning Forum (Thurs Mar 29)
Author: Tom WhyteView PeopleLink Options for this User Date: March 26, 2012 12:57 PM
Thank you for providing this interesting perspective on Role Playing in Education.
I myself have just completed a similar activity through a pilot project through Pearson, where they have taken portions of Destination Imagination and utilized them in the classroom. And if you are interested, have also used specific challenges from the DI site itself, which is located at:
http://www.idodi.org/
I think this approach, if handled properly provides students with authentic and engaging activities, that enhances the 4 c’s of 21st century thinking:
1. Communication
2. Collaboration
3. Critical Thinking
4. Creativity
Thoughts?
2. Subject: Re:Why not role play in Science and Mathematics Classrooms? Topic: MC-L3: Embodied Learning Forum (Thurs Mar 29)
Author: Douglas SmithView PeopleLink Options for this User Date: March 26, 2012 7:47 PM
Hi Valerie,
Do you have any guesses, ideas or hypothesis on where this part of the mobile technology may grow? I find that this topic, like some others, gives us just a small taste of what is perhaps possible yet seems quite distant. Jasper is another example, and there are many others I think.
My hunch is that we are at least one or two breakthroughs away from using mobile devices for role playing. Maybe there will ultimately be some kind of Nintendo DS type of device, where you get to program a character or characteristic into the device, and when other people with devices come close to you, the devices share information. Perhaps something like this could enhance CSI type science labs, or maybe students can take roles in math lesson plays.
Are there other ideas out there?
d