USING ROLE PLAY AS A TEACHING

STRATEGY
By Tom, Ellie, Ashleigh and Louise

USING ROLE PLAY REASONS FOR

Must be an unrehearsed
dramatisation
Can be designed to make
students think about the
perspectives and feelings of
others
Can help students practice
specific skills
Teacher is responsible for
planning, organising,
facilitating and monitoring
the role play
USING ROLE PLAY
Learning through role play
is an active process and
therefore students are
likely to remember it for
longer
Role Play needs to be
integrated into your
teaching and learning and
not just as a filler activity
Be clear about your
intended outcomes

THE SCSA TREE

Crown: Student and their world

Stem: Student Growth

Roots: Learning by education

LEARNING SHOULD INVOLVE

1. Cultivation of academic knowledge

2. Personal development
3. Development of Interpersonal skills
 PREPARING FOR AND ISSUES TO CONSIDER
USING ROLE PLAY
Unenthusiastic student
participants
1. Develop the resource
Preparing activity can be
2. Review your role play
time consuming
3. Develop confidence
Difficulty assessing amount
4. Brief your students
of individual learning
5. Select participants
occurring
6. Clarify expectations
Classroom environment
7. Conduct the role play
Subject area
8. Debrief the experience

SUGGESTIONS FOR USING

ROLE PLAY DIFFERENT ROLE PLAY
Teaching relationship SUGGESTIONS

skills
Economics: practice job
Teaching languages
interveiw
Role Play as assessment
To foster a trusting and
respectful classroom Languages: asking for
directions in a foreign country

FOR MORE INFORMATION...

Science: what happens when
two atoms meet each other?
teachingroleplay.weebly.com

Health: Saying 'NO'

REFERENCES
Baruch, Y. (2006). Role-play teaching: Acting in the classroom. Management Learning, 37(1), 43-61. doi 10.1177/1350507606060980. Retrieved
from https://doi-org.ipacez.nd.edu.au/ 10.1177/1350507606060980
Killen, R. (2014). Effective teaching strategies. Cengage Learning Australia. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com.ipacez.nd.edu.au
Le-Math. (2013). MATHeatre: teaching and learning mathematics through mathematical communication activities. Retrieved from http://www.le-
math.eu/assets/files/MATHeatre-Guidelines-V1-September2013.pdf
Marsh, C. (2011) Becoming a teacher: knowledge, skills and issues (6th ed.). Australia: Pearson.
School Curriculum and Standards Authority. (2014). About us. Retrieved from https://www.scsa.wa.edu.au/about-us/about-scsa
Stevens, R. (2015). Role-play and student engagement: Reflections from the classroom. Teaching in Higher Education, 20(5), 481-492. doi:
10.1080/13562517.2015.1020778. Retrieved from https://doi-org.ipacez.nd.edu.au/ 10.1080/13562517.2015.1020778
Strategies for the Social Studies Classroom. (n.d.) Role Play/Simulation. Retrieved from
https://otis.coe.uky.edu/ccsso/cssapmodules/sbp/sbp/Role%20PlaySimulation.html