Chapter 13: Incorporating Role Playing And Simulations In An Examination Of Key Social Issues

It is the first day of school and instead of distributing textbooks and assigning seats to a 10th-grade world history class, the teacher tells the students that they are going on an imaginary field trip. She pulls down a world map and points to the Olduvai Gorge (Great Rift Valley) in east Africa. “Here we go . . . Uh-oh . . . The plane has crashed and the flight crew, chaperones, and teacher have all perished.” The teacher then moves to the back of the room and sits down at a vacant desk leaving the class to figure out what to do next. Several minutes pass and then students begin to speak; a student bravely goes to the front of the room, grabs some chalk, assigns groups to a variety of tasks necessary for survival—for example, surveying the crash site; performing triage; and gathering food, water, firewood, and other basic necessities for sustaining life. The class is thrust into playing roles of crash survivors to acquaint them with the basic problems people face around the globe: food, shelter, medical care, needs of the group versus needs of the individual, and so on. Additionally, this unscripted crash simulation reveals to the teacher the leaders, the risk takers, and the organizers in this first meeting with the students. The class, ready for the normal first day procedures of school, is thrown off balance and becomes animated, interested, and excited about the coming year in world history—maybe it won’t be just textbook, worksheets, lectures, notes, and memorization. Maybe this will be better than they expected.