SOUTHERN LEYTE STATE UNIVERSITY – TOMAS OPPUS
San Isidro, Tomas Oppus, Southern Leyte
Self-Paced Learning Plan
Course : Teaching Science in the Elementary Grades (Physics, Earth and
Space Science)
Title of the Topic : Lesson 5: Using Role-play as a Teaching Strategy
Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students are expected to:
1. Discuss teaching and learning through Role-Play;
2. Explain how to use role-play as a teaching strategy; and
3. Develop a sample lesson plan using role-play as strategy.
Content of the Lesson:
Introduction
What is Role Playing?
Role-playing is an unrehearsed dramatization in which individuals improvise behaviors
that illustrate acts expected from people involved in defined situations. “In role-playing
activities, you present to your students a realistic or hypothetical situation and a cast of
characters. The students then improvise dialogue and actions to fit their views of the situation
and the character they are playing” (Davis, 1993). In successful role-playing, the learners
assimilate information that is provided about their role and then act out the assigned role in
accordance with their interpretation of how their character behave in the fictional situation.
This type of role-play can easily be designed to help the students understand the feelings and
perspectives of others by acting out situations in which there is a conflict or dilemma. They
provide an opportunity for them to become deeply involved in thinking about how they would
react in real-world situations.
Frequently, this type of role-playing directly involves just a few students (the actors)
and the majority of the class observes and analyzes the interactions between the players. You
can directly involve more students by using role-play as a group activity (with several groups
role- playing at the same time). This has the clear advantage of giving more students a chance to
demonstrate how they would perform in a role, but it can limit your chances of having all
members of the class focus on specific issues that arise from the role-play.
A second form of role-play can be used to help the students develop specific skills, such
as how to present themselves effectively at an interview, how to introduce themselves to a
stranger, etc. with this approach, you might have several students (or all students) take turns at
playing the role so that they can all practice their skills and receive feedback.
Another form of role-playing requires the students to take on specific roles over a longer
period of time, frequently in order to experience what it might be like to work in a particular
occupation.
Palmer (1998) describes a fourth form of role-play in which the students pretend to be
“anything…either living or non-living.”
Whichever form of role-play is used, the teacher is responsible for planning, organizing,
facilitating and monitoring the role-playing, and for guiding the follow-up discussions. In short,
the teacher has to ensure that the role-play is learning experience, not simply an activity.
Why and When Might Role-Play Be Used as a Teaching Strategy?
Killen (2009) explained the advantages of role-play. In general, role-play can:
Help create a learning environment in which the students are highly motivated and
involved because of the realism and relevance of the learning activities. This encourages
them to look at the material they are learning in a new light.
Provide a clear focus for learning by emphasizing the application of knowledge in real
situations rather than just the accumulation of knowledge for assessment purposes. This
helps the students to consolidate their learning.
Provide the students with opportunities to develop a range of communication and social
interaction skills. It can also give them opportunities to express feelings and points of
view that they might be unwilling to express in real situations.
Give the students opportunities to deal with complex social, emotional, ethical, and
moral issues in concrete ways in a safe environment (Hughes, 1992; Eddings, 1992). The
students can experiment and take risks in their interactions with others, which
encourages them to think critically and creatively. Through these experiences, they gain
a better understanding of their own values and attitudes (Saltz, 1994) and come to
appreciate the consequences of their values based actions (Downing, 1994).
Engage the students actively in learning, so that they appreciate the value of
participation, rather than just hoping to learn by absorption.
Help the students understand the feelings and attitudes of others by experiencing
situations, rather than just hearing or reading about them. This helps them understand
that there are causal relationships between people’s behavior and the outcomes of event
(Drake & Corbin, 1993).
Give the students practice in generalizing from a particular situation and appreciating
that their biases and preconceptions will influence their generalizations.
Develop the students’ self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-image.
Encourage the students to take a deep approach to learning (Cope & Horan, 1996) and
start to understand that complex problems rarely have simple solutions.
Enable the students to explore historical or contemporary situations in which there are
conflicting emotions, different points of view, biases, problems caused by differences in
race, age, gender, religion, nationality, or ethnic background, and so on. The students
become more aware of differences in points of view and their consequences and more
sensitive to the feelings of others.
Develop the students’ citizenship skills by showing the successful and unsuccessful
methods that people use to solve intergroup and interpersonal problems.
Give the students practice at taking action on their own behalf and on others in real
world situations (Haberman, 1991).
Provide the students with valuable opportunities to use their experiences and
imagination to “explore values and issues that are highly relevant to their own needs
and culture, in their own language, and with simulation and instant feedback from their
peers” (Dracup, 2008).
Moreover, because this kind of learning experiences involves the whole person-intellect,
feeling, and bodily senses-it tends to be experienced more deeply and remembered longer
(Brookfield, 1990). Role-play that involves the students pretending to be inanimate objects is a
particular useful strategy when the students are struggling to understand concepts that cannot
be easily demonstrated in a real life situation-for example, the movement of nutrients in the
body.
Despite the many advantages of using role-play as a teaching strategy in class, it also has
some limitations. The table that follows shows a summary of the advantages and limitations of
role- play.
Use role-play if: Do not use role-play if:
The outcomes you want the students to
The students lack the confidence and basic
achieve are best demonstrated through
some type of performance. skills to take on roles.
The students have the confidence to Direct instruction will be more effective
perform in front of their peers. and less time-consuming.
You want to encourage the students to The students who are observing lack the
explore a range of ways of dealing with skills to analyze and learn from the
realistic situations. activities they are watching.
You want the students to learn how to
enjoy learning.
You want to demonstrate the critical role of
human decisions in real situations.
How to Use Role-Play as a Teaching Strategy?
When planning to use role-play, your preparation will need to include the following
(Killen, 2009):
Decide what learning outcomes are to be achieved by those students
participating directly in the activity (the role-players)
Decide what learning outcomes are to be achieved by those students wo
are involved directly (Observing, judging, note-taking, etc.).
Prepare the resource materialss for the direct participants and the other
students.
Select the students wo will be directly involved and briefthem on their
roles.
Explain to the other students what you epect them to do during the
performance.
Stage the performance.
Debrief the students (participants and others).
Check tha the desired learning outcomes were achieved.
To use role-play effectively, you will need to go through at least the following steps:
Select or develop the role-play scenario.
Have the role-play scenario reviewed.
Tell the students what they will be doing and why
Select participants and explain their roles
Explain what you expect from the audience
Give students time to prepare
Commence the enactment
Discuss, evaluate and debrief
Assess the students' learning
Sample Lesson Plan
TOPIC: Motion
Grade Level: Grade 5
Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
1. Describe the motion of an object by tracing and measuring its change in position
(distance travelled) over a period of time and
2. Use appropriate measuring tools and correct standard units.
ENGAGE
The teacher shares in class her experience of riding on a train. He observed that as
the train approaches, the velocity decreases, and when it leaves the station, its velocity
increases. She wondered what caused the change in velocity of the train.
EXPLORE
Divide the class into groups and let them perform this experiment on force, motion,
and acceleration. This simple activity aims to determine the relationship between force
applied to an object, to observe the motion produced by the force, to discover how mass
affects the force required to move an object, and to detect how an increase in force affects
the acceleration of an object. After performing the experiment, they will explain their results
and compare them with other groups.
The students will be using the following: 3 textbooks, looped string, hooked weights
or weights plus S-hooks, triple-beam balance, and a stop watch.
First, find the mass of each textbook, then the students place the loop string inside
the front cover of one book and place the book 25 cm from the end of the table (book spine
faces the edge of the table) with the loop string hanging over the table. The students begin
hanging weights from the end of string until the book begins to move and reaches the end of
the table, (need to be ready to stop the book before it falls off the table). The students then
add up the weights hanging on the string and multiply by 0.0098 N/g to calculate the force
acting on the book.
Leaving the weights on the string, place the book back at its starting point on the
table. This time when the students let go of the book, they are to time how long it takes the
book to reach the edge of the table. NOTE: The students may have to give the book(s) a tap
to get them moving, depending on the books and surface used. To calculate acceleration, use
the following formula: a=2d/t2.
The students will repeat the procedure done with one book for two and three books.
EXPLAIN
The topic will be further explained through a role-play. Choose six students to act
during the play. Assign another student to manage the class while the role-play is going on.
The teacher will divide the class into groups and give them the following activity sheets.
They need to watch and listen attentively during the role-play so they can answer the
questions in the activity sheets.
Activity Sheet
1. Rate of change of velocity is .
2. The unit of acceleration is .
3. Negative acceleration is .
4. As the train approaches the station, its velocity decreases/increases.
The six students will have the following roles.
Student 1 – Distance Student 2 – Displacement
Student 3 – Time Student 4 – Speed
Student 5 – Velocity Student 6 – Acceleration
PLAY
Distance and Displacement are actually related; they are brothers. They have a
common friend named Time. Distance and Time have a friend whom they call Speed. In
another group, Velocity is the friend of Displacement and Time. The five met in a party.
While they are enjoying the party. Acceleration arrived.
SCRIPT
Acceleration: Hey, happy to see you all here.
Distance: Hey, how are you?
Acceleration: I’m fine. Hey, look! You and Displacement are looking almost the same. Are you
related with each other?
Distance: Yes, he is my brother. Actually, he I the measure of the change of position of an
object in a particular direction.
Acceleration: Oho…that is you both have the same unit, which is meter.
Displacement: Yes, actually we look almost the same, but we are different in calculation.
However, in one situation we both have the same reading. Can you guess it?
Acceleration: If an object travels from one place to another in a straight line, then Distance
and Displacement will be the same. Is that right?
Distance: Yes, you are right. Meet our common friend Time.
Acceleration: I know him. I am also his friend.
Displacement: Meet Velocity, a friend of mine, and Time.
Velocity: Hey, Acceleration.
Acceleration: Oho… So you are Displacement in unit time.
Velocity: Ye, and my unit is m/sec.
Distance: Also, I and Time have a friend name Speed. Meet him.
Speed: Nice to meet you, Acceleration.
Acceleration: Oho… So you are distance in unit time.
Speed: Yes, and mu unit is m/sec.
Acceleration: So I think when Distance and Displacement look the same, Speed and Velocity
will also look the same. (Speed and Velocity smiles at each other.)
Speed: You get it. Actually, we are related to each other so we are close friends.
Acceleration: Oho…But the truth is that I am also related with you, isn’t it true, Velocity?
Velocity: Yes, you are the rate of change of Velocity.
Acceleration: Hehehe.. And my unit is m/sec2
Speed: What is this change of Velocity? I don’t understand.
Velocity: That is Final Velocity – Initial Velocity (Final Velocity minus or less Initial Velocity).
Distance: So there is a possibility that change of Velocity becomes negative?
Acceleration: Yes, as the Final Velocity is less than Initial Velocity, then I become “Negative
Acceleration.”
Displacement: What is negative Acceleration?
Acceleration: That Time I was known as Retardation.
Speed: Is there any chance to see you both?
Acceleration: It’s difficult, but there is one situation where you can see me and retardation
simultaneously.
Displacement: In which situation?
Acceleration: When a train approaches the station, Velocity decreases, and at that time I
become Retardation. When the train departs from the station, Velocity increases and I
become Acceleration.
Speed: So your look changes according to the change that occurs in Velocity?
Acceleration: Yes.
Distance and Displacement: So, we are all related to each other in one way or another. We
form a family, don’t we?
Acceleration: Yes, so our family is “Motion”.
All of them: Hey… We are all part of one family that is “Motion Family.”
- ROLE- PLAY ENDS –
ELABORATE
The teacher will ask the rest of the students of their understanding of the six terms
based on the character played by their classmates. The students will give other
instances/scenarios where motion is observed and measured. They will relate the
experiment to everyday, real-life experiences.
EVALUATE
The teacher can assess the learning of the students by giving some problems to be
solved by the students.
Self-Learning Activities:
Activity 1
Answer the following guide questions. Use another sheet for the lesson plan.
1. What are the advantages of using role-play as a strategy in class?
2. What are the limitations of role-play as a strategy in class?
3. Develop a sample lesson plan incorporating role-play.
Topic:
Grade Level:
Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
1.
ENGAGE
EXPLORE
EXPLAIN
ELABORATE
EVALUATE
Answer Sheet
Name: ________________________________________ Course Year/Level:_______________ Date: _______________
Self-Learning Activities:
Activity 1
Answer the following guide questions. Use another sheet for the lesson plan.
1. What are the advantages of using role-play as a strategy in class?
2. What are the limitations of role-play as a strategy in class?
3. Develop a sample lesson plan incorporating role-play.
Topic:
Grade Level:
Learning Competencies
The learners should be able to:
1.
ENGAGE
EXPLORE
EXPLAIN
ELABORATE
EVALUATE
Good luck and God Bless!
(Note: All answers must be on this answer sheet. Any additional sheet will be attach together with
this answer sheet. Thank you!)
