Roleplaying: Learning Can be Fun!

There is absolutely no reason why the real world cannot and should not be more fun.

That is really rad. School after a point would've been so much better if there was that kind of dynamic in the classroom.

Reading the article: oh, it's link an MMO. I wanted ClassRealm the fantasty/scifi LARP. Ah well. It's still really cool. That kind of rewards based setup is great incentive; grades are not enough, contrary to popular belief.

Teachers push very hard for smaller class sizes (less students per teacher). But school boards push back against that demand because if you have 360 students in your school it's cheaper to pay 10 teachers to teach with 36 kids per class than it is to pay 12 teachers with 30 kids per class.

Role playing games are phenomenal, but when the kids' butts are NOT in chairs, that's when it's easier to lose control of the class and have things get WAY out of hand. It'd be awesome if all 36 students in your class were above average in intelligence, and also awesome if none of them had Asperger's or ADD or any number of impairments where they don't always make the best choices. But keeping a lid on things, keeping the bullies from getting the upper hand, and trying to get through the lesson plan are the priority. And when you saddle a teacher with a large number of students, many of whom have behavioral problems, often times a teacher retreats into survival mode and just hands out worksheets. At least with worksheets the kids are quiet, seated, minding their own business, and on-task. Not the best way to learn, but teachers have few other choices sometimes.

Zoombie said:

There is absolutely no reason why the real world cannot and should not be more fun.

Click to expand...

One reason: money.

Oh yeah, I wasn't keeping class size in mind.

So far as tabletop RPG's go, 3-7 players is definitely our limit

Plot Device said:

One reason: money.

Click to expand...

Money is just a representation of scarcity.

So, solution!

Automation

Plot Device said:

One reason: money.

Click to expand...

From the article, it seems a lot more imagination than money was involved.

This has been a trend that has been ongoing for a while now. There has been a lot of discussion (I could provide academic references if you like ) regarding the use of social networking in schools and the use of MMORPGs, especially games like second life, which can allow students to experience things that are not normally possible in a classroom. Social networking has especially become important with regards to girls in the classroom and how they relate to ICT. Many girls get turned off ICT but appreciate the social side of social networking.

Even in a large class, you can do a lot of more interactive stuff. Dividing your 30 kids into 6 groups of five and giving each a task to achieve and then report at the end of the lesson, for example. I actually have an idea for an activity involving a whole school where each class or department has a challenge to complete. I would start the day, for example, by an assembly where the pupils are told that the school has been teleported to an alien planet and then each class would have to work on solutions to various problems. For example:

- Science classes would work on ways to provide electricity before the generator runs out (lemon batteries, attempting to make own batteries out of acid solutions, considering methods of energy conservation) and also on ways to prevent the oxygen from running out (I have a method for making CO2 scrubbers which can be done in a classroom using stuff in a normal prep room...).
- Language students would have to work on translating the alien language which will be discovered to be a mix of whatever languages taught at the school
- Geography would work on mapping the alien planet and finding resources they would need to survive
- English and AV/ICT would be tasked to chronicle the attempts of the other groups using film cameras and photography and by writing reports.

And so on...

But in many schools there is not the space on the timetable nor the money to pay for the staff required...

Alessandra Kelley said:

My tenth grade social studies teacher did a simulation of the 1920s stock market that was pretty awesome, and we didn't get out of our chairs. It wasn't a LARP, exactly, but we got to do things.

We got reports on things at irregular intervals during class. The stocks were all fictional (so nobody could pull the old time-traveller with knowledge of what horses to back thing), but based on, f'rexample, the Ford Motor Company. And he didn't say how long it was going to be, so people didn't know when to pull out.

We got a good education on buying on margin, and what made the Crash of '29 happen.

Click to expand...

I loved the history role plays, I feel liked I learned the most from those.

I hate interactive learning, personally. Isn't that strange? I do much better as an 'independent learner'. Still, this is a great idea to help get more normal (statistically speaking) kids involved in enjoying subjects I'd hate it.

My favorite way involves a mix. My grade school often had a couple of choices of how to do the day's lesson, and the small group of quiet girls (me) was allowed to do our own thing quietly in a corner while the guys usually chose to do something more active.

We (the girls) would tutor the slower learners, too, while we were quietly cranking it out. Other than the unfortunate gender breakdown that always happened back then, I think it was an amazing way to lead classes. The guys who were both a little slower on grasping the lesson and who also got 'stuck with the girls' were the only losers, but at least they did learn the material. Hopefully today you'd have more of a gender mix naturally.

Alessandra Kelley said:

My tenth grade social studies teacher did a simulation of the 1920s stock market that was pretty awesome, and we didn't get out of our chairs. It wasn't a LARP, exactly, but we got to do things.

We got reports on things at irregular intervals during class. The stocks were all fictional (so nobody could pull the old time-traveller with knowledge of what horses to back thing), but based on, f'rexample, the Ford Motor Company. And he didn't say how long it was going to be, so people didn't know when to pull out.

We got a good education on buying on margin, and what made the Crash of '29 happen.

Click to expand...

A social studies teacher of mine did something similar in 7th grade when we were learning about the industrial revolution and what it meant to work in a turn-of-the-century factory. Best 50 minutes I ever spent in school, even though I didn't get to be the foreman and boss all my classmates around.

I've used the ChoreWars website at my house to get my younger children more interested in chores and to prove to my oldest that no, he really wasn't doing a lot of the work that was getting done around the house. Everyone had fun with it each time, and the kids did get more done.

backslashbaby said:

I hate interactive learning, personally. Isn't that strange? I do much better as an 'independent learner'. Still, this is a great idea to help get more normal (statistically speaking) kids involved in enjoying subjects I'd hate it.

My favorite way involves a mix. My grade school often had a couple of choices of how to do the day's lesson, and the small group of quiet girls (me) was allowed to do our own thing quietly in a corner while the guys usually chose to do something more active.

We (the girls) would tutor the slower learners, too, while we were quietly cranking it out. Other than the unfortunate gender breakdown that always happened back then, I think it was an amazing way to lead classes. The guys who were both a little slower on grasping the lesson and who also got 'stuck with the girls' were the only losers, but at least they did learn the material. Hopefully today you'd have more of a gender mix naturally.

Click to expand...

That's because you self motivate and are probably introverted (like me... I always preferred to work at my own pace in school). Interactive learning is not for everyone and any teacher should be catering to as many learning styles as they can (which I know is an almost impossible task).

One problem with people who like to self study, however, is that they rarely challenge themselves sufficiently. It happens a lot in schools where the G&T pupils are ignored because they are quiet and 'getting on with it' while SEN and LA are given all the attention.

I generally try to get the G&T involved by making them mentor the LA pupils - thereby solving two problems with one stroke

You know, for a lot of adults, sitting still is *not* a big part of their lives. Maybe if you're one of the folks employed in white-collar, office-based jobs. But a lot of us aren't. And even the folks who are, most of them still have to learn on the job, generally in ways that don't involve someone directly instructing them from a textbook. Being actively involved in one's learning is probably a good idea for everyone, regardless of potential future employment possibilities.

areteus said:

I generally try to get the G&T involved....

Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure alcohol in schools is a bad idea.

(Serious question, what's G&T? I only know it as Gin and Tonic).

G&T = Gifted and Talented

Sorry, yes... G&T is education shortform for Gifted and Talented. SEN is special educational needs and LA is Low Ability (there is also HA and MA for high and medium). Technically G&T is also an SEN issue (because someone with such talents usually needs extra help to utilise them effectively and that constitutes an 'educational need') but most local authorities don't see it that way.

Interactive learning is the best way to learn and it does not have to involve a lot of roleplay etc. The trick is to make the material interactive. So, rather than a textbook with a lot of bald text and some questions (which some will get some benefit from but not all) you set a research task (ask a question and leave them to research the answer in groups and do a presentation at the end, provide many books and articles and the internet if available) and you see an immediate increase in engagement and more of them actually learn.

I know from my own school work that the things I learnt the most were those topics I did essays on. Just reading about something got me enough knowledge to pass an exam but writing about it (including all the research needed) meant that I remember it long after the exam and essay are over.

And the reason for the peer mentoring tactic is evidence that you actually benefit more from teaching something than you do from being taught. Having to know enough about a topic to be able to communicate it to others means that you also learn more about the topic... There have been a number of times when I have been preparing for a lesson on a topic I am not sure about only to have it click mid lesson. Therefore, teaming the HA with the LA pupils not only raises the LA achievement significantly it also raises the HA scores (despite fears that such tactics would actually reduce achievement...)

All of these methods are interactive. You actually have to actively participate in the process. As soon as anything becomes passive you get bored and turned off. Some turn off quicker than others.