Role Play
(ROW-ll Pl-EH)
Radioactive
What is Role Play?
Role play is a learning activity in a practice setting in which one or more participants enact real-world conversations and behaviors based on a specific scenario and then receive feedback.
Other Common Names
Other common names for role play include:
- Simulation
Key Properties
These are properties of the element role play:
- Attempts to simulate real-life interactions
- Uses guidance but not entire scripts
Some charged statements from Brian's book What's Your Formula
- "Role play can be an extremely important element that allows learners to practice using words, skills, and body language in a practice environment without consequences before they need to use them in real life. I’ve heard some learners object to role play because they don’t want to get up in front of a group and look foolish, which is a perfectly reasonable concern."
- "I’ve applied several strategies successfully to ensure that a role-play activity supplies maximum power to a training program, including: Provide structure for everyone involved. Most role play scenarios feature someone who is supposed to be practicing a skill (such as a salesperson or hiring manager) and someone who is just going about their daily business (such as a customer or a job candidate). I prefer to have scenario information scripted for each person involved in the role play (Figure 3-6), which ensures the scenario focuses on the right skills (and that the scenario doesn’t just resolve itself too easily because participants grow tired of the interaction)."
- "Years ago, when I was a Peace Corps volunteer, a farmer asked if I wanted to accompany him to his farm and help with the daily chores. I laughed and said, “I don’t know that you’d want my help milking the cows. I tried it once, and it was a disaster.” He replied, “There’s always a first time.” Several weeks later when I went to his farm and he let me help milk the cows, it was a much better experience for the cow and for me."
