This qualitative study analyzed the language of 24 kindergarten students in the classroom's home center during the first weeks of school. Data were collected through informal interviews with the teacher, audio recordings and field notes taken during observation of children at play in the home center. Analysis of spontaneous conversation began with…

A study investigated what organizational communication students learned from case simulations and role playing. Seniors and graduate students enrolled in two different 400-level courses taught in the Department of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale engaged in different detailed case simulations that required them to…

This paper describes an application of MOOs (meeting places for role-playing on the Internet) in the Advanced Reading and Language Literacy Program (ARLLP) at the University of California, Berkeley, and considers how the project has changed thinking about technology and its role in teacher education programs. The paper describes an ongoing pilot…

This 3-lesson unit of study for grades 8-12 and adults considers the 250 million children who spend most of their day on the job, despite efforts to regulate or eliminate the practice of child labor. The unit focuses primarily on export-oriented businesses in the Americas. This focus serves as a starting point to understanding other forms of…

This report delineates a series of interventions aimed at minimizing incidences of bullying in a suburban elementary school. The social services staff was scheduled to initiate an anti-bullying incentive in fall 2001 due to the increased occurrences of bullying during the prior year. The target population consisted of third- and fourth-grade…

This essay blends practical reflection on current efforts to develop a role-playing curriculum at the University of Pittsburgh with a theoretical investigation of role-playing as a pedagogic technique. This paper examines educational literature on role-playing pedagogy as the topic is treated in a variety of academic fields including medicine,…

Input must be both contextualized and natural if it is to be coterminous with actual communication, in which interlocutors participate in a cooperative and dialogic process. However, when input becomes decontextualized, discourse shifts to a superficial plane. As is commonly the case in theater, verbal act meaning in the classroom setting is…

This study involved a teaching experiment in which academic argumentation was practiced during a ten-week email course in a Finnish university. During the course, two working methods were used: free debate and role play. The aim of the study was to clarify how these two working methods activated students in mutual argumentative dialogue and…

Describes a social studies program at the Bryant Youth Educational Support Center for socially or emotionally maladjusted children whose purpose is to develop a caring attitude, a concept of the nature of role in school behavior, and an experimental attitude towards coping with problems on the part of the students. (AN)

A clinical Specialist in public health nursing discusses the role of the nurse in working with the family and child affected by sickle cell anemia. (AJ)

Describes a training method that provides a systematic, experiential way of teaching both core conditions and their appropriate use according to dynamic phases of the counseling relationship. The model is part of the Master's curriculum in counseling at New Mexico State University, and has been shown to be effective. (Author/JAC)

Techniques of classroom role playing that promote student involvement and bring language to life are outlined and discussed, including principles of drama and communication, techniques of theatrical production, and group dynamics. Use is recommended in conventional introductory courses, advanced courses where communication is emphasized, and…

Describes an experiment in an elementary school in Israel in which role-simulation and lecture were used as strategies to aid children experiencing crisis situations. Results show that role-playing is an effective group intervention tool in stressful situations. (JJD)

Ways to make historical figures come to life through classroom simulations are described. They include: (1) teacher impersonations of time-machine visitors; (2) public-address-system voices from the past; (3) writing about historical personages from different perspectives; (4) mock trials; and (5) role playing by students. (PP)