drama, role play, and simulations. looking ahead what role does dramatic excitement and suspense...

Chapter 9

Drama, Role Play, and Simulations

Looking AheadWhat role does dramatic excitement

and suspense play in the social studies curriculum?

What is a true educational experience?What techniques can teachers employ

to help create educational experiences?What factors must teachers be mindful

of when using these or other techniques?

Can You?Explain how drama is a problem-solving

activity? Identify reasons for using dramatic

activities? Describe different forms of mock trials? Explain stories and get students to tell

stories in ways that are meaningful for the learning context?

Do You?Understand the term dramatic tension? Understand how to use a variety of

dramatic techniques in social studies? Understand the difference between role

play and socio-drama? Understand what a guided fantasy is and

the purposes of this technique? Understand the concept, in-basket game?

Focus Activity In small groups, generate a list of powerful quotes from

speeches and writings of historic figures. Here are a few examples:

"I have a dream." -Martin Luther King, Jr. "This day shall go down in infamy."-Franklin Delano Roosevelt "Ask not what your country can do for you."-John F. Kennedy “Ain't I a woman?"-Sojourner Truth “We hold these truths to be self evident…” – Thomas Jefferson "Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers set forth on

this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." -Abraham Lincoln

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.... "-Emma Lazarus

Focus Activity Repeat each quote several times going around

the group with each person trying to express the quote as dramatically and differently as possible.

Discuss the meaning of each quote, and the nuances that the different ways of stating the quote add.

What does this say about how we learn from dramatic and eloquent figures in history and what we can learn from using drama in teaching?

Share responses with peers and instructor.

The Importance of Drama in the Social StudiesWhat kind of classroom do you want

to create?What does drama mean for the

social studies teacher?What is positive dramatic tension

and how does one create it?Why should a teacher use drama?

Drama through ReadingWhat are/is…

Guided Fantasies?Class Action Dramas?Reader’s Theater?Dramatic Reading?

BragsCliffhangersCharacter monologuesIn-role reportsFirst- and third-person poems

Role Plays and Other Structured Drama TechniquesWhat are/is…

Structured Role-Play?Sociodramas?Children's Theater?

Art and Story Related Dramatic TechniquesWhat are/is…

Picture Pantomimes?Story Play?

ReenactmentWhat makes reenactments so

beneficial for students?What ways can you incorporate a

reenactment?

Interactional DramaWhat is an Interactional Drama?What is suspended disbelief and why

is it important?Why should you not mimic famous

people?

Drama UnitsWhat are Drama Units?How can one utilize them in a social

studies classroom?

Story Telling in Social StudiesWhy utilize the “story telling”

approach?What are the three requirements for

story telling?learning to choose a story that is worth

telling and fits your purposeslearning how to learn a storylearning how to tell a story

Process Drama in Social Studies What is a process drama?What key tools to this approach?Why should a teacher utilize this approach?

Effective Use of Drama in Social StudiesWhat are the possible benefits and

pitfalls for utilizing drama in the social studies?

How important is preparation when using drama?

Simulation GamesWhat are simulation games?What are the possible benefits and

pitfalls for utilizing simulation games in the social studies?

What is the most important element to consider when using simulation games?

Mock TrialsWhat are mock trials?What are the possible benefits and

pitfalls for utilizing mock trials in the social studies?

What are the nine forms of mock trials?

Looking Back Teachers who have a stronger sense

of the drama of the classroom are going to add suspense and excitement to their teaching.

Among the many other forms of drama that can be used are dramatic reading, class action dramas, mock trials, story play, sociodrama, simulations, role-play, and story telling.

ExtensionThe final nine weeks is off to a fabulous start.

Your principal informs you that he would like you to join his in-service training team. He explains your role would be to develop and implement in-service training sessions to current teachers at your school and others in the district.

You accept but realize after that you must create three different sample activities that incorporate drama and related techniques into the social studies curriculum.

ExtensionDevelop three original activities that

incorporate drama and related techniques into the social studies curriculum (6-12 level and topic of your choice).

The activities should be in engaging and informative.

Share your products with peers and/or instructor.

Self-Test1. What is a simulation game? 2. Develop an in-basket simulation

game. 3. Describe three types of mock trials.4. What is readers' theater? 5. What is the point of class action

stories?

Self-Test6. Why is humor used in so many of the

dramatic techniques? 7. What is the difference between role-play

and sociodrama? 8. What is story play? 9. What are some ways in which a teacher or

student can become a better storyteller? 10.What purposes do different dramatic

activities serve in the social studies?

ResourcesDrake, I. (2008). Classroom simulations: Proceed

with caution. Teaching Tolerance, 33, 42–48.Morris, R. (2001). Drama and authentic assessment in a

social studies classroom. The Social Studies, 92(1), 41–44.

Pogrow, S. (2008). Teaching content outrageously: How to captivate all students and stimulate learning. New York: Jossie –Bass.

Simulation Games https://sites.google.com/site/gameonlearning/social-studies-ms-games