Over the past few weeks I have
thoroughly enjoyed researching the topic of role-playing games (RPGs) in the
classroom. I have found many resources
to help explain how others have done it, and really enjoyed coming up with my
own lessons or methods of integrating RPGs into the class. For this post I will be reflecting on my
experiences with this project, some implications of my project, and in general
going over some things I may have missed.
Due to trying to be concise I have
glossed over some aspects both of RPGs in general and their application in the
classroom. I thought it might be helpful
here to briefly go over some RPG mechanics and give my own personal
recommendations for those interested in entering the hobby just for fun or
bringing it into a classroom. As I have
stated RPGs are all about creating your own character and playing in a group of
other people who have done the same.
There is one person, often called the game master who unravels a
narrative and presents options to players and their characters. In most RPGs when players commit to an action
they often roll dice to determine the outcome and the result is often modified
by the character’s stats. This ends up
adding some controlled randomness and necessitates improvisation both for
players and game masters. That is pretty
much it for core concepts while trying to be as concise as possible.
I will now take the time here to provide
some personal recommendations and suggestions for RPGs that are good
introductions to new players, or would make for an excellent classroom
tool. First and foremost I have to bring
up Dungeons & Dragons (D&D),
as it is by far the most recognizable RPG out there. While I think this might help introduce
educators to the concept of RPGs I believe that most editions of the game are
too cumbersome for a classroom of students grades 1-8. It is a little too rules heavy to allow for
that ease of entry and student buy in.
You want a system that will not frustrate or confuse any of your students. This is why I had recommended Dungeon World in my last post. The
rules are simple and encourage player creativity and ingenuity in resolving issues. My second recommendation might come across as
bizarre sounding, but if you’re a fan of the movie WALL-E you’ll love it. The RPG is called Engine Heart where
the players create and play as their own robots. I compared this to WALL-E because these
robots are not big or powerful, they’re simple robots designed usually for one
or two basic functions, like a robot that collects and incarnates trash, or a
robot that greets people. The rules are
quite basic and easy to pick up, it does involve dice but only 10-sided
dice. Besides that the game system is
free, you can get a pdf of the rules and character sheets from their
websites. I think this game could work particularly well for younger grades, and might be a great interactive activity to discuss human impact on the environment, much in the same way the movie WALL-E did. These are just some of the
easiest, most accessible, or popular RPGs I could think of. I might expand this blog further as I
discover and read more RPGs that could work for a classroom or go into greater
depth reviewing and describing the RPGs I have mentioned and the uses for them
in a classroom.
So now that we are at the end of this
project, what have we learned and what implications for learning did we
discover? First and foremost I think
that this activity highlights the need to engage students in interesting and novel
ways. Children have a natural drive to
play, and I think we would be missing out as educators if we did not harness
this drive to play to also help them learn.
I think that as a teacher if you are planning on integrating RPGs into
the classroom you have to do so in a way that is engaging and inclusive (make
sure it’s something that all students can enjoy and participate in) but above
all helps to reinforce traditional curricular lessons or incorporates
curricular standards into play. I
believe that RPGs can help to teach and reinforce knowledge on social skills,
arithmetic, probability, reading, writing, media literacy, problem solving, and
critical thinking skills. There are some
issues that educators or those familiar with RPGs may raise, two of which being
time and size. RPGs are often very time
intensive activities, and are usually designed to be played with 4-8 people
including the game master. In a
classroom setting the best way to account for the issue of time is quite
simple. Just plan out a lesson that
would take the appropriate classroom time to complete and weave the RPG around
that. The issue of time with RPGs is
something that as educators we deal with for every lesson and is something that
we plan and account for better with experience.
The issue of size is something more complicated. If you have a class of 30 students that far
exceeds the recommended players for an RPG.
This is where the teacher must get creative, either by creatively
working in RPG elements into traditional lessons thus having it function little
differently than a normal classroom. Or
have students break off into groups and decide a student who can keep track of
rules along with a character, like a smaller scale game master. Or ideally but perhaps unrealistically have
students simply take turns, this method would of course be a larger test of
patients and may eat more time.
Overall I don’t think there is any one
right answer of how to bring RPGs into a classroom; you have to find the method
that best works for you and your class.
Experimentation is necessary. I
just hope that I managed to get some people thinking about this topic, got
people curious, and got people wanting to explore the potential of RPGs in
education. One of the final things
coming up for this genius hour project will be a TED talks. It will nicely summarize my studies and
research on this topic, along with my methods, reflections, and where we can
all go from here.
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