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How to Design a Role-Play Simulation

Prepared by Mary Pettengerfor the International Studies Associations 50thAnniversary Convention

New or!" N #5$#% &ebruary '00(

)ole$play si*ulations can be co*ple+ or si*ple" and can be designed to cover *any different

topics, -he si*ulation can push students to learn about issues at a deeper level because they *ustlearn positions and then play the* in a public setting, It can also increase class interaction due to

the social nature of the e+ercise, In addition" si*ulations can pro*ote student learning due to

peer pressure" increased interest and hopefully learning retention due to the active nature of the

e+ercise,

.ne downside for the instructor however is the loss of autono*y over the class, -he si*ulation

is turned over to the students who can *a!e it succeed or fail based on their efforts or lac!

thereof, ou can use techni/ues to *ini*ie the ris! such as re/uiring graded assign*ents" andactivities that re/uire a personal co**it*ent fro* the student 1such as a public speech" etc,2,

1. Pre-work

As with all learning processes" the *ost i*portant first steps are deter*ining who needs to learnwhat" and how best to facilitate the process, 3uestions you will need to consider4

ow *uch ti*e can be devoted in the class to the si*ulation6 In class ti*e usually

consists of preparatory lectures" the si*ulation as well as a debrief, -he length willdeter*ine the scope of the si*ulation and the a*ount of deep learning that can occur,

-his will also include how *uch ti*e you have to prepare the si*ulation, Much of yourwor! on the si*ulation will be on the front$end in designing the si*ulation and pre$lectures, owever" you will need to ti*e for grading assign*ents" etc," and for evaluation

and re$wor! if you use the si*ulation again,

7hat are the learning outco*es of the si*ulation6 8esigning the si*ulation *ust fit to

your goals for the course, It is useful to integrate the si*ulation into the broader the*es

of a course to provide students with hands$on understanding of the *aterial, Areas to

consider are the areas and s!ills you want students to develop such as greater topic

!nowledge" negotiations s!ills and strategy" public spea!ing s!ills" and research andwriting s!ills, &urther discussion of si*ulation structure below *ay help you in this area

as well,

7ho is the target audience6 9nowing your class is very i*portant, -he focus of the

si*ulation obviously *ust fit to the needs of the instructor and the student, ou can

design si*ulations that give lower division" non$political science *a:ors a /uic!understanding of the*es" or give upper division" political science *a:ors greater depth of

!nowledge about specific outco*es,

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&or e+a*ple" I use a cli*ate change si*ulation in a non$*a:or" introductory course and leave the

ob:ectives /uite open, I have to provide *ore resources for the students" but let the* !now that

they will be discussing a topic that the international co**unity has been struggling with for*any years so I do not e+pect the* to ;solve all of the worlds proble*s in three class periods,

In addition" it is helpful to give the* ready *ade language for treaties" etc, to wor! with, -hey

have to research their state and si*ply fill in the blan!s, My learning outco*es at this level forthe si*ulation are for the* to recognie the difficulties in states achieving cooperation 1going

beyond the usual" ;why dont they :ust do this or that

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)ole Selection > As with the topic" you *ay want to pre$select countries or entities you

want your students to role$play and have the* select fro* your list, If so" you should

carefully select countries=entities that play differing roles in the topic" e,g," powerful=wea!states" developed=developing states" those causing the proble*" those suffering fro* the

proble*" those who refuse to act and those who are desperate for action, So*eti*es it is

useful to encourage your stronger students to play *ore i*portant roles" but so*eti*esthe structure of the si*ulation *ay not allow this, If possible" try to devise a way to assist

the *ost influential states=entities to play their role well as the entire si*ulation can rest

on their perfor*ance 1e,g," i*agine if the ?,S, played a lac!luster role in a cli*atechange si*ulation2,

Assessing @earning > ou will need to design the si*ulation to accurately and fairly

assess student learning, -his can be done with a co*bination of individual researchassign*ents 1preparatory docu*ents such as country profiles and position papers2" as

well as perfor*ance during the si*ulation, It is helpful to re/uire students to write up

responses for a debrief as well to help the* conte+tualie the process they :ust went

through, -his can help you to help the* synthesie and evaluate what they learned 1orhopefully learned if you need to fill in blan!s2, If you have groups role$playing a single

entity" it is helpful to have a tea**ate evaluation so that they can let you !now if all

*e*bers of the group participated e/ually,

)esources > It is very useful to provide the student with infor*ation to help the* begin

their research, -his can range fro* docu*ents and bac!ground infor*ation" to specifictip sheets you create with infor*ation they *ust !now to negotiate effectively, -he level

of the course is a *a:or deter*inant on the a*ount of resources you provide,

Si*ulation &or*at > -he ne+t step is to design the actual running of the si*ulation,

Several parts to include are4o designing an agenda $ you can supply this to the students or :ust !eep it for

yourself so you can *onitor the progress of the class"

o rules for debate > you should decide if you want to use for*al rules such as

)oberts )ules" or teach your students so*e basic rules for ti*es to spea!" as!ing

/uestions" infor*al discussions" etc,"

o for*at > you should plan a for*at that fits your learning outco*es, .ne for*at

that wor!s well is to have designated short position speeches at the beginning of

the si*ulation" followed by a *id$length /uestion$and$answer period" followed

by infor*al discussions" possibly progressing bac! and forth fro* discussions to

/uestions, Students *ay naturally gravitate toward one *eans of co**unication

versus another, 3uestion ti*e allows for the entire group to hear the /uestions andanswers put forth by their peers, Infor*al discussions or caucuses allow for the

one$on$one contact that is necessary to ha**er out language and convince othersof their positions 1or to *a!e side deals2,

o supplies > It is helpful to have placards 1card stoc! with the na*e of the entity on

one sided" folded in half the long way2 so that the students can see the na*es of

the other participants 1e,g," N.)7A2,

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o Sa*ple or draft resolution > you *ay want to include a sa*ple resolution for the

students if you want to direct their learning in specific areas,

o 8ebrief > ou will need to design a list of /uestions 1open$ended wor! well2 for

students to discuss after the si*ulation is co*plete, our role is to return the

process to yourself" to bring the learning bac! to a for*al setting when you

deter*ine what they should hear, If your si*ulation failed" dont worry" as thedebrief can turn it around to show how they *ay have de*onstrated what often

happens in the real world > progress is slow and hard to achieve 1see theinfor*ation above under Assessing @earning for further clarification2,

4. Running the Simulation

8uring the si*ulation" you turn over *uch of your control to the class however" your activities

during the si*ulation are i*portant, our *ain role is to insure the s*ooth flow of the

si*ulation and to *aintain its focus on your learning outco*es, .ne *eans to do this is to act asthe chair" recogniing students when they choose to spea!" clarifying rules" etc, So*e areas you

*ust be *indful of are4 /uic!ly clarifying if false infor*ation is stated, So*eti*es it is useful to spea! to the

student in person and allow the* to correct the error" while at others" it *ay be necessary

to interrupt the process to correct the error if it is egregious"

encourage the shy student to spea! up" or the loud and obno+ious student to /uiet down,

ou will notice that individual personalities can play a significant role in deter*ining thedirection of the si*ulation, @uc!y is the day when your best students play a nurturing

role and educate their fellow students, More li!ely will be the day when you have to coa+

and corral so*e to participate,

. Reassess and Redesign

If you plan to use the si*ulation" or a different si*ulation" then reassessing and redesigning areessential, Bach ti*e you run the si*ulation" you will learn of areas you forgot to cover" or s*all

details to change that will i*prove the process for the ne+t ti*e,

In the end" si*ulations can be a valuable tool for an instructor to connect the student *ore

closely to the learning process, @earning by doing can encourage the* to co**it *ore fully to

learning the course *aterial and foster *ore ownership of the entire process,