ROLE PLAY

INTRODUCTION:

The use of role-play as an educational technique is part of the wider set of techniques that
have collectively become known as gaming and simulation. Role-play is a learning device used to
explore issues, situations, themes, or texts where diverse opinions need to be exposed and ideas require
fleshing out. Through this method, young people have opportunities to express their feelings, explore
their ideas of reality and be confronted with the consequences of their actions. They may also be asked
to explore more complex social situations and inter-relationships.

DEFINITION:

Role play exercises give students the opportunity to assume the role of a person or act out
a given situation. These roles can be performed by individual students, in pairs, or in groups which can
play out a more complex scenario. Role plays engage students in real-life situations or scenarios that can
be “stressful, unfamiliar, complex, or controversial” which requires them to examine personal feelings
toward others and their circumstances - (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p.47).

Role playing is the spontaneous acting out of roles in the context of human relations,
situations. It is a part of two broad methods.

 Socio drama

 Psycho drama

Socio drama:

It deals with the interactions of people with other individuals of groups eg: mothers,
nurses, leaders, etc. it always involves the group faces in executing their roles.

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Psycho drama:

Practiced in a group setting mainly concerned with th unique needs and problems of a
particular individual. It should not be attempted except under the guidance of trained therapist.

Unlike simulations and games which often are planned, structured activities and can last
over a long period of time, role play exercises “are usually short, spontaneous presentations” but also
can be prearranged research assignments (Bonwell & Eison, 1991, p.47)

PURPOSES:

 To convey information
 To develop specific skills
 To develop a situation for analysis
 To prevent alternative causes of action
 To prepare for meeting future situations
 To develop understanding of points of view of others
 Increasing their insight into typical ways of dealing with them
 To present interpersonal problems
 To provide emotional and affective stimulus for solving problems
 To provide awareness about social and psychological issue.

PRINCIPLES OF ROLE PLAY:

 Role playing is flexible

 The role play should be a stimulant to think and not an escape from the discipline of learning.
 There is no single best method of selecting the characters the group may do the assigning
 Role play should never be rehearsed
 Analysis and evaluation is essential to attain the maximum learning benefits
 Role play should be brief

SETTING UP OF ROLE-PLAYING:

 Define the problem to be considered and the nursing situation in nursing situation in a
meaningful manner to all students in the situation and ask for volunteers to play these roles.
 Ask the participants to try to place themselves in the position of the characters
 Caution the participants against the desire to express their own ideas and opinions
 Each class members selects one role and identifies herself with, it listens and tries to anticipate
what the persons in the situation might say or do.
 Never rehearse for role playing
 At any point during a dream utilization participant may hold a short conference to clarify the
problem under study.

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  The length of the role play will depend upon how it takes to make the nursing situation clear and
the students become aware of feelings and thoughts of these of the actual situation
 At the end of the activity time should be given for a discussion.

ROLE OF A TEACHER IN ROLE-PLAYING:

 The provides the teacher with the opportunity to note individual student needs by observing and
analyzing her needs in a real life situation.
 Assist the student in meeting her own needs by either giving her or encouraging group members
to give her on the spot suggestions.
 Encourage independent thinking and action by stepping aside on giving indirect guidance to
emphasize them to themselves
 The teacher can correct the errors and use the role-play for specific teaching on the subject.

VALUES OF ROLE – PLAYING:

 Develop skill in leadership, interviewing and social interaction

 Develop sensitivity to others feeling
 Develop skills in group problem solving
 Develop ability to observe and analyze situation
 Practice selected behaviors in real like situation without the stress of making a mistakes.

RELATIONSHIP TO TRANSITION YEAR GUIDELINES:

 A key feature of Transition Year should be the use of a wide range of teaching/learning
methodologies’
 Transition Year aims to educate ‘for maturity with the emphasis on personal development
including social awareness and increased social competence’
 ‘The Transition Year should help facilitate personal growth and social development as a central
concern of the school through active participation in a programme where the approach process is
as important as the content

BENEFITS OF STUDENTS:

Role-play:

 Is student-centered
 Is active. Participants do not merely discuss theoretical problems of behavior and alternative ways
of acting, they observe and practice the new ways of behaving
 Adds life and immediacy to academic descriptive material (History, Geography, English,
Economics) helps facilitate the development of interpersonal and communication skills
 Builds confidence.
 Provides educational opportunities to practice making forays into the unknown in supported non-
damaging situations
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  Facilitates an empathy with and a deeper understanding of the motives of the character/ type of
person being played
 Takes ‘old knowledge’ and through classroom experiences adds to this so that the result is ‘new
knowledge’
 Can offer the learner an alternative angle from which to view a piece of text, a social issue, etc.
 Enables the student to express hidden feelings
 Motivates students for future learning.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

Through taking part in role-play, students should be able to:

 Listen to the instructions given by the teacher and to others involved in the role-play as it
progresses
 Communicate more effectively
 Demonstrate skills of observation and active listening to other students
 Demonstrate skills of negotiation, dealing with customers, chairing meetings, etc.
 Analyze, reflect on and evaluate their own interpretation of the role and the interpretation of others
 Discuss with a deeper understanding the character/concept/issue under examination
 Identify the advantages of the technique as an active learning methodology
 Devise appropriate role-play situations for the purpose of working out future issues or exploring
other texts, themes, characters, etc.

BENEFITS OF TEACHER:

Role-play :

 Gives back to students some responsibility for the direction of learning

 Motivates students
 Offers teacher opportunities to see other qualities in students
 Enables teacher to become a facilitator of learning rather than a disseminator of knowledge
 Provides an alternative method of teaching
 Helps students retain the understanding which has been developed through active learning

POINTS TO REMEMBER WHILE DOING ROLE-PLAYING:

 There should never be one answer to a situation presented

 The time of the play should be brief
 Enough time should be allowed for discussion and analysis of the situation
 Evaluation concerns the teacher and the participants through discussion or follow-up as to
specific individual behavior or sequential of group-actions.

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STEPS IN ROLE – PLAYING:

 Select a problem for role –playing.

 Set-up the role playing scene,
 Getting under way in role playing
 The part the group plays
 Cutting the role-playing
 After the role-playing is cut
 The audience observers
 The role playing scene might be played
 cautions in the use of role playing
 summarize.

ADVANTAGES OF ROLE-PLAYING:

 It provides opportunity to the students to learn about a subject from the inside
 It gives them to feel the intensity of the situation by enacting it through role-playing
 It increases students interest motivation and effects for learning about a subject or phenomenon.
 Students derive useful real life like experience through playing specific roles of the player’s
observers and in turn prepare them for their future life activities
 It provides training in verbal and motor communication of the behavioral acts by expressing as
spontaneously and freely as possible
 The students get opportunity to imbibe useful qualities for social participation and cooperation by
giving due regard to others feelings and points of view.
 It can provide due insight into real life problem and develop problem –solving abilities of the
students.
 It can be used for illustrating and explaining the various phenomena and incidents related to
classroom teaching of various subjects.

DISADVANTAGES OF ROLE PLAY:

 The students may not understand the problems of the situation for playing in the roles with needed
effectiveness
 The role playing becomes effective only when the player and observes truly believe in the story or
the situation to enacted.
 Usually the students do not believe in what they are doing with their roles as players or observers
 In such situation role-playing loses its impact and significance
 Students who may enact the assigned roles effectively, are not easily available for making the role
play success

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  The role playing expects too much from the teacher as he in one who have to create a life like
problematic situation or story plot, prepare and draft the role players watch and direct the role-
playing activities for some useful educative gains
 There is quite death of such capable and trained teachers and in such a situation we cannot desired
results with the use of role-playing.

CONCLUSION:

The group conference method lends itself for modification in the use of role playing. Role
playing involving the acting out of roles related to problems involving human relations. The total group
is involved in the analysis of behavior portrayed in the role playing situation for the purpose of
increasing their insights into similar problems and understanding ways of dealing with them. when
group members are provided with opportunities to “live through” problem situation, they gain increased
understanding of themselves and learn how to establish relationships. Use of this tool in a group
centered class room environment affords students opportunities. To try out new approaches to
establishing interpersonal relationship to make mistakes and to work with a particular problem until it is
satisfactory resolved without the stress of performing in a patient situation.

REFERENCES:

 Basavanthappa. B.T,” NURSING EDUCATION”,1ST Edition(2004),JAYPEE

brothers publications, New Delhi, Page no.335-337

 Kanakalakshi.S,“COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY”, 1st

Edition(2008-09),Florence publications,Hyderabad,page.no.62-65

 R.SUDHA” Textbook of NURSING EDUCATION, published by JAYPEE brother medical

publication. Page no-78-81.

 KP Neeraja, Textbook of Nursing Education Jaypee Brothers, Medical Publishers (p) LTD, Page
No: 321 – 322

 https://www.scribd.com/document/419386436/ROLEPLAY-docx

 https:/www.scrip.org>reference>ReferencesPapers

 https://www.niu.edu/citl/resources/guides/instructional-guide/role-playing.shtml\