The Evaluation of Role-Playing in the Context of Teaching Climate Change

Abstract

Role-plays are a common pedagogical tool in the Social Sciences. As an imitation of societal practices, role-plays are thought to support the development of argumentation and decision-making skills among learners. However, argumentation and decision making are also goals in science education in general and in socioscientific issues-oriented science teaching in particular. This paper discusses a grounded theory (GT) approach to evaluating students' performance within role-playing exercises. The context is climate change. Data come from 4 different role-playing scenarios covering climate change which were developed in parallel for Biology, Chemistry, Physics, and Politics education. Role-plays in 20 different learning groups were videotaped (5 per subject). An evaluation pattern was developed step by step according to GT. Finally, graphic representations of all the role-plays were derived. The representations enable a quick overview of the role-plays and allow the identification of four basic types of roleplaying: role-plays that are (1) completely directed by a group of student moderators, or (2) by the teacher, (3) medium-quality role-plays with a certain amount of interactivity and free argumentation, and (4) real, spirited debates. Implications for the use of role-playing exercises in science education are derived, including the induction of such role-plays through the use of role cards and the influence exhibited by teacher behavior.

Students’ Decision-Making in Education for Sustainability-Related Extracurricular Activities—A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies

“…The majority of studies was conducted in Europe (n = 13, Germany [80][81][82][83][84], United Kingdom [85,86] Cyprus [87,88], Israel [89], the Netherlands [90], Czech Republic [91], and Spain [92]), followed by studies from North America (n = 4, America [93][94][95] and Canada [96]). There was a scattering of studies from Asia (n = 1, Singapore [97]) and Oceania (n = 1, Australia [67]).…”

“…Most studies collected their data from students attending upper secondary education (n = 9 [67,[80][81][82]84,86,87,92,93]). These students are typically 15 to 18 years old and in grade 9 to 12.…”

“…Half of the papers followed a qualitative research design (n = 9 [80,82,85,91,92,[94][95][96][97]). Seven papers (n = 7 [83,[86][87][88][89][90]93]) used a pre-post-test design with intervention and three articles (n = 3 [80,81,84]) chose a pre-post-follow up with control group test design.…”

“…Papers with this focus (n = 14 [67,[80][81][82][83][84][86][87][88]90,[92][93][94][95]) define decision-making as a competence required in the process of reasoning. Derived from this perception as a competence, decision-making appears to be investigable in its structure and development.…”

The Application of Montessori Method in Learning Mathematics: An Experimental Research

“…Role playing is thus an important pedagogical methodology of learning. [19]. The learner's prerequisite is engagement in a meaningful activity that enriches them physically and intellectually.…”