Role Play

Role play is a product of ‘play’, ‘games’ and ‘simulation’. In science education role-play may be seen as an interaction between these three components – either in combination or by themselves – and the child who ‘performs’ the activity, resulting in learning outcomes.

It is suggested in this model that there is progressively increasing intellectual rigour involved as you move from play to games to simulations. Again, in this model, all aspects of role-play are derived from ‘play’. Since the initiation and design of role play is driven by the teacher, play takes on an educational function. Some types of role play use techniques derived from drama, which may be adapted for use in teaching science. Role play in science, therefore, is a product of the use of drama, games and simulations.

Why use role-play in science?

The theory behind the use of role play in science teaching and learning – as with ‘active’, ‘experiential’ or ‘child-centred’ learning – is that children are encouraged to be physically and intellectually involved in their lessons to allow them to both express themselves in a scientific context and develop an understanding of difficult concepts (Taylor, 1987). The key to role play, and the reason why role-play can help to make science relevant to many children, is that it is based upon ‘play’. By the time that children begin to be educated in science, they are already very experienced at play, having had their whole lifetime to practise. This play activity is naturally used by children to develop their knowledge and intelligence (Piaget, 1951). The desire to play, and therefore to learn, is a fundamental part of human psychology and is a potentially powerful resource residing in the children themselves.