Considering New Categories
After establishing the necessity of prioritizing goals, I found that the further categorization of simulation and role-play activities can help match suitable activities to specific thematic units and groups of students. While the scope of these activities are too large to define completely, three themes consistently resurfaced throughout the artifact analyses; simulation context, level of guidance, and safety.
The success of a simulation relies heavily on establishing the context and the protocol of that context. In the social studies classroom there are two context categories, historical and non-historical. The Tiffs Alien activity was the only non-historical context simulation within the artifact analyses. While the simulation encouraged significant engagement [See Artifact 2: Tiffs Lesson Plan], by the paper writing stage the historical themes and greater goals of the assignment were lost [See Artifact 3: Tiffs Paper, Reflections]. It was far easier to maintain a focus on the greater historical themes and problems in those simulation activities that already existed within the historical context [See Artifact 5: Trial of Socrates Observation Notes].
This is not to say that non-historical context simulations do not have the potential to be meaningful. But they should probably not be the class’s first simulation. A class should already have experience with the protocol and importance of simulations before they attempt the Tiffs activity. Additionally, the teacher should have experience properly scaffolding simulation activities. The message can be easily lost behind the novelty of the experience, especially when the activity is not grounded in a specific historical circumstance.
In addition to considering students’ experience with simulations when picking an activity, a teacher should also consider how much historical content a class needs to acquire by the assessment stage. In cases where a significant amount of content needs to recorded and understood, teachers should consider creating heavily guided simulations. For example, in my WWI alliance game, I provided students with the opportunities to voice their own strategies and suggestions. However, by the end of the simulation, I guided them to correct alliances [See Artifact 8: WWI Alliances, Reflections]. Balancing the thematic need of diplomacy with the content need of specific alliances, I decided that students could still grasp the theme while I placed a greater emphasis on the specifics of that historical situation.
Similarly, teachers should consider heavily guiding role-play and simulation activities when first introducing the concepts of historical empathy and imagination. Students were far more successful at adopting roles when I added the TWS and RAFT stages to the process [See Artifact 6: Trial of Socrates Paper, Introduction and Expectations]. It was not until much later did I take some of those scaffolds out, and only when students had the experience to understand what they could do in a greater creative space [See Artifact 9: WWI Letters, Reflection].
In addition to context and guidance, Teachers should also consider the level of ‘safety’ each activity provides for students. In the WWI simulation activity, two students chose not to speak or provide suggestions to the larger class because they clearly felt uncomfortable [See Artifact 9: WWI Alliances, Reflections]. In some cases, when I recognized that students would feel uncomfortable in a situation, I gave them the option to not participate in a certain section [See Artifact 5: Trial of Socrates Observation Notes]. If the priorities of a simulation do not focus on public speaking skills, it is appropriate to provide an opt-out for some students as long as they contribute to overall group work.
Ultimately, however, individual written role-pay assignments provided the highest levels of safety for the students in my teaching context. I observed high levels of creativity and commitment to role-adoption in the letter writing assignments. In contrast to the Mock Trial of Socrates, students did not ‘break character’ or reveal embarrassment. For example, Bea, a student often concerned with her image and actions when completing group work, wrote an extremely poetic and committed WWI Letter [See Artifact 9: WWI Letter, Reflection].
The success of a simulation relies heavily on establishing the context and the protocol of that context. In the social studies classroom there are two context categories, historical and non-historical. The Tiffs Alien activity was the only non-historical context simulation within the artifact analyses. While the simulation encouraged significant engagement [See Artifact 2: Tiffs Lesson Plan], by the paper writing stage the historical themes and greater goals of the assignment were lost [See Artifact 3: Tiffs Paper, Reflections]. It was far easier to maintain a focus on the greater historical themes and problems in those simulation activities that already existed within the historical context [See Artifact 5: Trial of Socrates Observation Notes].
This is not to say that non-historical context simulations do not have the potential to be meaningful. But they should probably not be the class’s first simulation. A class should already have experience with the protocol and importance of simulations before they attempt the Tiffs activity. Additionally, the teacher should have experience properly scaffolding simulation activities. The message can be easily lost behind the novelty of the experience, especially when the activity is not grounded in a specific historical circumstance.
In addition to considering students’ experience with simulations when picking an activity, a teacher should also consider how much historical content a class needs to acquire by the assessment stage. In cases where a significant amount of content needs to recorded and understood, teachers should consider creating heavily guided simulations. For example, in my WWI alliance game, I provided students with the opportunities to voice their own strategies and suggestions. However, by the end of the simulation, I guided them to correct alliances [See Artifact 8: WWI Alliances, Reflections]. Balancing the thematic need of diplomacy with the content need of specific alliances, I decided that students could still grasp the theme while I placed a greater emphasis on the specifics of that historical situation.
Similarly, teachers should consider heavily guiding role-play and simulation activities when first introducing the concepts of historical empathy and imagination. Students were far more successful at adopting roles when I added the TWS and RAFT stages to the process [See Artifact 6: Trial of Socrates Paper, Introduction and Expectations]. It was not until much later did I take some of those scaffolds out, and only when students had the experience to understand what they could do in a greater creative space [See Artifact 9: WWI Letters, Reflection].
In addition to context and guidance, Teachers should also consider the level of ‘safety’ each activity provides for students. In the WWI simulation activity, two students chose not to speak or provide suggestions to the larger class because they clearly felt uncomfortable [See Artifact 9: WWI Alliances, Reflections]. In some cases, when I recognized that students would feel uncomfortable in a situation, I gave them the option to not participate in a certain section [See Artifact 5: Trial of Socrates Observation Notes]. If the priorities of a simulation do not focus on public speaking skills, it is appropriate to provide an opt-out for some students as long as they contribute to overall group work.
Ultimately, however, individual written role-pay assignments provided the highest levels of safety for the students in my teaching context. I observed high levels of creativity and commitment to role-adoption in the letter writing assignments. In contrast to the Mock Trial of Socrates, students did not ‘break character’ or reveal embarrassment. For example, Bea, a student often concerned with her image and actions when completing group work, wrote an extremely poetic and committed WWI Letter [See Artifact 9: WWI Letter, Reflection].