ACTIVE LEARNING MODEL PROCESS

Ian Dawson www.thinkinghistory.co.uk

Copyright 2007
Page 1 of 1
May 07

Process Diagram
Stage 1
Identify learning problem/s with the topic and
so establish what you’re trying to achieve
Stage 2
How can the use of movement and space
help?
Stage 3
Prepare an outline of:
Roles
Stages of activity and movement (with
arrowed diagrams)
Stage 4
Write the script which includes:
Information you need to provide
Questions and likely answers and
students’ movements
Stage 5
Prepare role cards – keeping them as direct
as possible
Stage 6
Plan the debriefing
What have students learned from this?
Identify
Learning Problem
Plan
Debriefing
Use of
Space
Outline
Roles
Script of
Information
Prepare
Role-Cards
Outline
Stages
Script of
Questions

6Role Play Activities

This page describes the technique and the uses of the role play model and then lists all the
activities that are based on this model.

Go to List of Activities

Role Play or Simulation?

How does a role-play differ from a simulation? It’s a delicate difference but I’ve used
role-play to describe activities which are built round students taking decisions as if they
are in a given historical situation. These decisions can lead to movement round a map but
the focus is on the decisions. In simulations students re-enact, for example, an event but
don’t face options and make choices.

Almost all of the role-plays are very closely structured, much more so than many people
expect on hearing the words “role-play”. Movement is directed by the teacher rather than
being left to students. Much greater emphasis is placed on thinking – thinking from the
inside of the situation. However there are examples of more open-ended role-plays. Geoff
Lyon’s activities on the pre-1832 election and on 1930s unemployment provide good
models of these.

Top of the page

Why use a role play?

They work at all levels, up to and including undergraduate level and can be adapted to
accommodate a wide variety of demands and levels of detail. The major benefits are:

- they are an effective introduction to people, names, a sequence of events and places

- they develop students’ understanding of the motives and attitudes of people in the past

- they can bring out clearly why sources might have gaps or be subjective and why
interpretations differ

- they help students develop an understanding of the complexity of past situations, a

much greater complexity because they are, for a lesson, taking part in the historical event.

- they stimulate effective reading, especially at A level and above

- they help students to care about the people in the past because they identify with parts
they and their friends have played.

- they require a lot more concentration than standard lessons – any moment you might be
put on the spot to make a crucial decision!
Top of the page

Note-Taking
One final practical point – note-taking, particularly at A level. If you have sufficient
students pairing them up, one as role-play participant and one as note-taker on behalf of
the pair is a useful way of ensuring everyone has a set of notes to take away. If necessary,
provide note-takers with structured guidelines for the notes.

Top of the page

How do you create a role-play?

I've drawn up a diagram to sum up the process I follow.

This picture only shows a corner of it.

Click on the picture to see the full diagram.

Top of the page

Activities
Walk through the events and ask pupils to take the key
Boudicca’s Rebellion
decisions
Create a map of England, walk your pupils through key
The Events of 1066. Could it
decisions and see how their chronicles match up to the
have ended differently?
real thing. (Don't forget the hair dryer!)
The Black Death comes to Put your pupils into roles, find out who survives and
Allton explore the consequences of the Black Death
Put your students into role as villagers facing the
Why did People Rebel in
aftermath of the Black Death, French attacks and Poll
1381?
Taxes
Why were medieval kings
A role play – will your nobles depose the king?
deposed?
The beginnings of the Wars of A role–play introduction to the people and events for A
the Roses: 1452–1455 level and above
Henry VIII, Wolsey and
Europe 1509-1529
Dissolution of the Monasteries
Kett’s Rebellion – what
happened and why?
Civil War comes to Deerhurst
Did the Train Arrive on Time?
Pre–1832 Election Game
Shall we join the Chartists?
Failure of the Schlieffen Plan
Stalin, Trotsky & the struggle
for power after Lenin
Role-playing Unemployment
in the 1930s
Rhineland Occupation Game
This page
Role Play or Simulation?
Why use role play?
Note Taking
How to create a role play
List of Activities
Other Activity Areas
Home
Turn your room into a map of Europe and chart Henry's
road to glory – or failure
A role play that focusses on people and the importance of
monasteries to communities
A role–play that brings people and decision–making off
the page and helps students deepen their understanding.
A role play for A Level students who take the roles of the
leading villagers of Deerhurst, dealing with the pressures
put on them by Royalists and Parliamentarians
Liven up the railway revolution with a trip from Stockton
to Darlington
A role play that’s simply not fair – but very good for
learning
Test your acting skills and get your students researching
Chartism with renewed interest and purpose
Walk your students through the map of Europe and make
your decisions - then discover the grim reality
Sally Burnham demonstrates how these complex events
can be readily assimilated. Chocolate biscuits an
essential resource!
Make the Depression personal and enhance students'
understanding
Were the politicians of the 1930s really blunderers?
Top of the page
Activities by Key Stage

Activities by Period

Activities by Model

Hot Seating

Washing Lines

Timelines & Living Graphs

Role Plays

Simulations

Decision Making

Physical Maps & Family Trees

Archaeology & Mysteries

Creating Communities

MultiMedia

Miscellaneous Models

[ All activities ]

[ All feedback ]

[ Latest Activities ]

-- Home -- Search the Site -- Contact Ian Dawson --

Role Play Activities

This page describes the technique and the uses of the role play model and then lists all the
activities that are based on this model.

Go to List of Activities

Role Play or Simulation?

How does a role-play differ from a simulation? It’s a delicate difference but I’ve used
role-play to describe activities which are built round students taking decisions as if they
are in a given historical situation. These decisions can lead to movement round a map but
the focus is on the decisions. In simulations students re-enact, for example, an event but
don’t face options and make choices.

Almost all of the role-plays are very closely structured, much more so than many people
expect on hearing the words “role-play”. Movement is directed by the teacher rather than
being left to students. Much greater emphasis is placed on thinking – thinking from the
inside of the situation. However there are examples of more open-ended role-plays. Geoff
Lyon’s activities on the pre-1832 election and on 1930s unemployment provide good
models of these.

Top of the page

Why use a role play?

They work at all levels, up to and including undergraduate level and can be adapted to
accommodate a wide variety of demands and levels of detail. The major benefits are:

- they are an effective introduction to people, names, a sequence of events and places

- they develop students’ understanding of the motives and attitudes of people in the past

- they can bring out clearly why sources might have gaps or be subjective and why
interpretations differ

- they help students develop an understanding of the complexity of past situations, a

much greater complexity because they are, for a lesson, taking part in the historical event.

- they stimulate effective reading, especially at A level and above

they help students develop an understanding of the complexity of past situations, a much
greater complexity because they are, for a lesson, taking part in the historical event.

- they stimulate effective reading, especially at A level and above

- they help students to care about the people in the past because they identify with parts
they and their friends have played.

- they require a lot more concentration than standard lessons – any moment you might be
put on the spot to make a crucial decision!

Top of the page

Note-Taking
One final practical point – note-taking, particularly at A level. If you have sufficient
students pairing them up, one as role-play participant and one as note-taker on behalf of
the pair is a useful way of ensuring everyone has a set of notes to take away. If necessary,
provide note-takers with structured guidelines for the notes.

Top of the page

How do you create a role-play?

I've drawn up a diagram to sum up the process I follow.

This picture only shows a corner of it.

Click on the picture to see the full diagram.

Top of the page