This paper will discuss some personal philosophies and rationales in approaching and delivering Indigenous Australian studies--approaches that have been influenced and informed by experienced and knowledgeable educators both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. It doesn't aim or pretend to be unique or innovative in its arguments or approach; instead,…

This activity is designed to help teachers engage students in a critical examination of the challenges embedded in balancing economic, environmental, and immigration policy. Students take on the roles of environmental and elderly advocacy groups, both for and against increased immigration. By taking on the personalities and interests of these…

Past research with 152 preschoolers found that having an imaginary companion or impersonating an imaginary character was positively correlated with theory of mind performance. Three years later, 100 children from this study were retested to assess the developmental course of play with imaginary companions and impersonation of imaginary characters…

This role-playing simulation is designed to help teach middle level students about the typical lifecycle of a fungus. In this interactive simulation, students assume the roles of fungi, spores, living and dead organisms, bacteria, and rain. As they move around a playing field collecting food and water chips, they discover how the organisms…

This article addresses the use of a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) to foster communication and interaction and to facilitate cooperative learning in an online course. The authors delineate the definition and history of massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs), and describe current uses of MMORPGs in education, including…

Debates over the nature and extent of globalization raise many issues to be addressed in a geographic education. In this paper, I briefly review case method instruction and role-play as teaching strategies suitable for material on globalization and other geographic subject matter, and then sketch an overview of an undergraduate geography role-play…

Though much has been written about children learning science in informal settings such as science centres, surprisingly little attention has been paid to organisations such as The Scout Association and Girl Guiding UK which also, as part of a broader programme, provide science experiences for children and young people. A few years ago, prompted by…

Role-play is one of the most engaging instruments for imagining what is not actually present. Role-play can take a variety of forms: student(s) enacting; teacher(s) enacting; and student(s) and teacher(s) enacting together. In this article, the author examines a number of different ways for teachers to incorporate role-play in their classrooms to…

Creating a forum for conflict management students to conceptualize and implement collaborative negotiation techniques can be difficult to manage during classroom time. A computer-based simulation assigned in conjunction with in-class activities offers three distinct advantages for students who are beginning negotiators: (1) classroom time may be…

Instructors who teach critical communication theory sometimes have difficulty explaining key concepts to students. Discussions of power, ideology, hegemony, and emancipation often bring confused expressions to students upon first exposure to these ideas. This activity provides a simple, grounded approach to examining facets of critical theory in…

Approaches utilized in preparing actors are similar to developing empathy. This article defines empathy as a state and a trait and examines the use of theater exercises in the development of empathy. Theoretical, practical, and research bases for utilizing theater exercises are presented. A small study using theater exercises designed to develop…

This paper presents a spreadsheet based simulation game for teaching and learning production management concepts of forecasting, material requirements planning, order review and release. In this game the student plays the role of a production planner managing two products, for which customer orders are placed in variable quantities throughout the…

This article outlines how a group of primary school teachers from a cluster of nine schools in a networked learning community enquired into their classroom teaching. The teachers each identified an area of practice that they were developing in their classroom and wanted to evaluate, such as the benefits of pupils working in teams, or the creation…

This article presents a role-play exercise to make the topic of whistle-blowing personally salient to undergraduates. Students identify with the prospective whistle-blower, whose decision affects several stakeholders. The protagonist merely suspects her manager of stealing, until she hears concrete evidence of his thefts from her assistant…

In this article, the author relates the changing nature of international conflict and peacemaking since the end of the cold war to the development of a school curriculum that focuses on pressing international issues that are shared by people around the world. He also analyzes the implications of the changing world for curriculum development and…