Live Action Role-Play as Pedagogy for Experiential Learning

Abstract

Many professors and lecturers strive to structure educational experiences that facilitate engaged learning in university classrooms. While some lectures may fail to achieve this goal due to monotone, routine speeches or uninteresting PowerPoint presentations, educational live action role-playing (edu-larp) is a strategy to facilitate interactive and engaged learning. Edu-larp is catching the attention of an increasing number of teachers, both in secondary schools and higher education. This article introduces edu-larp and its unique benefits by summarizing past research results and providing theoretical support for edu-larp through experiential learning theory. A sample lesson plan is also included. The lesson plan exemplifies how to utilize edu-larp to teach the importance and benefits of public parks to university students. A set of generalized recommendations for educators’ use of edu-larp is also provided.

Keywords:

• Experiential learning
• live action role-play
• narrative
• role-play
• teaching