INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROLE-PLAYING, 5

PRE-LAYOUT ONLINE VERSION

The Effects of Using Academic Role-Playing in a Teacher Education

Service-Learning Course
Mary Lynn Crow
The University of Texas at Arlington
mlcrow@uta.edu
Larry P. Nelson
The University of Texas at Arlington
lnelson@uta.edu
Abstract:
Academic role-playing is one of the more effective activelearning instructional strategies currently being used at the
American university level in the preparation of future
educators. This mixed methods study is an investigation of the
use of role-play in an undergraduate university course
designed to prepare students to become public school coaches
and physical education teachers. The five original vignettes
that were role-played were specifically written to prepare the
students to successfully handle situations they might
reasonably encounter in their future work. The role-play
model used in the research was originally created by the
Shaftels in the 1960s, but several creative variations devised
by the current investigators were added to that model for this
study causing it to be an adapted version. Data collected
included questionnaire responses from two different
questionnaires, information from a focus group, and
observations by the two investigators. Investigators concluded
that the students not only exhibited skill in the techniques
used to resolve the issues in the vignettes, but that students
gained confidence the more they participated in the role-plays
which occurred over a 4-week period. The students
themselves reported that learning from ones peers, trying out
their ideas in a safe environment, being forced to plan an
intended outcome in advance, and hearing feedback from
others were their most valued experiences. They also
overwhelmingly reported preferring role-play to the more
traditional university lecture method.

Keywords: Role-Play, Teacher Education, Service-Learning

1. INTRODUCTION
Academic role-playing is one of the more effective and
frequently used active learning instructional strategies
currently being used at the American university level in the
preparation of future educators.1 If the focus of instruction is
the learning of new skill sets, role-playing those skills in a
realistic yet safe classroom environment allows students to
implement them correctly in a mentored and structured
learning setting. It also allows students to gain the confidence
to execute them appropriately in the real world. The
investigators used several varieties of a classic academic role-

playing strategy in a course designed to prepare students to

become future coaches and physical education teachers. This
particular course was also designed as a service-learning
course in which students served as volunteer student teachers
in after-school programs for area schools by coaching team
sports and facilitating content- specific events and activities.
The role-playing vignettes that were acted out were
specifically designed to prepare the students to successfully
handle situations that might reasonably arise both in their
service-learning activities and when they become full-time
physical educators. The purpose of this study was to
determine the effects of using the role-playing strategy with a
group of student teachers. The success, or lack of same, was
to be determined according to three factors: student attitudes
toward participating in the strategy, their skill level while
role-playing the required skills, and the degree of confidence
they expressed toward the use of these skills in the future as
compared to learning the same content through a lecture
format. The specific research questions were: will the use of
the adapted version of Shaftels role-play model (1) increase
students classroom interaction with peers and with
instructors? (2) increase students positive responses to course
content? (3) increase students confidence toward their future
participation in the service-learning activity as well as in their
student teaching?
Academic role-playing (not the same as role-playing
games) can be defined as the involvement of participants and
observers in a real problem situation along with the desire for
resolution and understanding that this involvement engenders
(Joyce, Weil, & Calhoun, 2009). The role-playing process
provides a live sample of human behavior that serves as a
vehicle for students to (1) explore their feelings; (2) gain
insights into their attitudes, values, and perceptions; (3)
develop their problem-solving skills and attitudes; and (4)
explore subject matter in varied ways (Joyce & Weil, 1980).
According to Henriksen (2004), role-play is a medium
where a person, through immersion into a role and the world
of this role, is given the opportunity to participate in, and
interact with the contents of this world, and its participants
(p. 108). Seaton, DellAngelo, Spencer, & Youngblood
(2007) suggest the use of role-play to help in the development
of self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-monitoring. In a
Finnish study of role-playing games, Merilainen (2012)
describes the self-reported social and mental development of
role-players. Specific skills that can be gained by role-play
include modifying ones performance in light of feedback,
becoming a good listener, showing sensitivity to social cues,

managing emotions in relationships, and exercising

assertiveness, leadership, and persuasion (Elias et al, 1997).
Karwowski and Soszynski (2008) used role-play successfully
to train undergraduate education students in creativity, but
they also believe that it can develop a capability for
constructive criticism. Sileo, Prater, Lukner, Rhine, & Rude
(1998) suggest role-playing as well as service-learning as
appropriate strategies to facilitate pre-service teachers active
involvement in learning.
According to Randel, Morris, Wetzel, & Whitehill (1992),
students should not be expected to learn to deal with
complexity unless they have the opportunity to do so, and the
authors of the current study believe that role-playing provides
an opportunity to address such complexity. In a study
designed to compare lecture versus role-playing in the training
of the use of positive reinforcement, Adams ,Tallon, & Rimell
(1980) found that the performance of the lecture-trained staff
was stable or declined after an initial improvement whereas
the performance of staff that role-played continued to
improve. Moore (2005) reminds that teachers often use roleplaying to facilitate learner involvement and interaction in the
process of decision making. Svinicki & McKeachie (2011)
see the chief advantage of role-playing to be that students are
active participants rather than passive observers and therefore
must make decisions, solve problems and react to the results
of their decisions. DellOlio & Donk (2007) believe that roleplaying helps students make responsible autonomous choices
because it provides a forum for exploring multiple ways of
acting and reacting in a given situation. Hall, Quinn, &
Gollnick (2008) state that experiences gained through roleplay can take the place of firsthand experiences that may be
impossible to otherwise achieve, and further explain that
teacher-education candidates often cite such experiences as
the most informative and influential part of their teachereducation coursework. Randel et al. (1992) found that
students reported more interest in role-playing when
compared to traditional methods of teaching. A concern,
however, regarding the use of role-play is raised by Shepard
(2002) who describes the anxiety often experienced by
students who have not previously role-played before,
particularly since they would be required to do it in front of
their classmates. Henriksen (2004) too expresses concerns that
not only might students be anxious but also that they may
think that role-play is associated with a childish image. For
their part, teachers are attracted to role-play, particularly if
their theoretical orientation is constructivism, allowing their
students to learn by making connections between their own
knowledge and experience and the real world (Kindsvatter,
Wilen, & Ishler, 1996).
2. Constructivism and the Nature of the Learning Process
As used in this study, the nature of the learning process is
that it is an intentional process on the part of the learner of
constructing meaning from information and experience.
Academic role-playing is an example of the use of
constructivism and student-centered learning wherein students
are enabled to create their own meaning from participating in
realistic life situations. According to Lainema (2009),
constructivism has recently gained popularity again although
it is certainly not new, but even today it is difficult to define it
unambiguously. Building on the ideas of Dewey (1910),
Piaget (1970, 1972), Vygotsky (1978), constructivism can be
defined in a variety of ways with differing areas of focus.
Kauchak & Eggen (2007) define it as an eclectic view of
learning that emphasizes four key components: (1) learners

construct their own understandings rather than having them

delivered or transmitted to them; (2) new learning depends on
prior understanding and knowledge; (3) learning is enhanced
by social interaction; and (4) authentic learning tasks promote
meaningful learning(p .9). Ormrod (2000) says that while
there may be no single constructivist theory, most adherents
recommend these same five beliefs: complex, challenging
learning environments and authentic tasks; social negotiation
and shared responsibility as a part of learning; multiple
representations of content; understanding that knowledge is
constructed; and student-centered instruction. Lainema
(2009) agrees that constructivism has been described by some
as more a set of principles than a coherent theory and that all
advocates do not necessarily share the same view of these
principles. Marlowe and Page (2005) contrast constructivism
with the more traditional lecture approach in four ways:
constructivist learning is about constructing knowledge, not
receiving it; constructivist learning is about understanding and
applying, not recall; constructivist learning is about thinking
and analyzing, not accumulating and memorizing; and
constructivist learning is about being active, not passive. Most
constructivists agree that constructivism focuses on what
students do and experience, and learners are therefore
encouraged to take control of and become increasingly
responsible for their own learning.
Building then on the theory of constructivism, we further
define learning as the intentional, meaningful, coherent
representation of knowledge. It occurs best when learners are
goal-directed, and it is successful when they can link new
information with existing knowledge in meaningful ways. It
can be enhanced when learners have the opportunity to
interact and collaborate with others (American Psychological
Association, 1997). Role-play as an instructional strategy
takes advantage of these practices connecting new
experiences to previous knowledge and experience, and doing
it in the company of others. According to Gunter, Estes, &
Schwab (2002), the only thing that really matters to learners is
the meaning students construct for themselves. Lainema
(2009) defines learning as an active process of constructing
rather than communicating knowledge. It also is best when
learners experience insight which is defined by Bigge &
Shermis (2004) as getting the feel of, or catching on to a
situation. All of these conditions are further enhanced when
students feel psychologically safe (Rogers, 1969). Overall,
learning should involve purpose and movement toward a goal.
To design curriculum so that this type of experience occurs
for students, professors should design active, learner-centered
strategies that ideally start with relevant problems that
students are motivated to resolve and apply to their own lives.
In our opinion, role-playing satisfies these criteria. In our use
of role-playing to prepare students to become effective
teacher/coaches, we defined our roles as facilitators and
discussion leaders.
3. Methods
3.1 Participants of the Study
Participants of the study were undergraduate physical
education seniors from a large diverse urban American
research university who were taking a capstone secondary
teaching methods course with a sustained service-learning
component (i.e., coaching an after school soccer program).
The course was specifically designed to prepare pre-service
teachers to become physical education teachers and coaches in
the public schools. Those taking the course in the fall of 2010

and spring of 2011 were in a control group (N=50), and the

other students who took the course in the fall of 2011 and
spring of 2012 participated in the role-play intervention
(N=52). A subset of 24 of the 52 intervention group students
(13 males and 11 females) participated in the specific roleplay activities and responded to both of the two questionnaires
administered in this study. The two investigators were
professors in the same College of Education and Health
Professions (one from a Department of Curriculum and
Instruction, and the other from a Department of Kinesiology).
An internal review board for research approved protocols for
this study.
3.2 Role-Play Activities (The Intervention)
The role-playing model used in the study is by George and
Fannie Shaftel and consists of nine steps: (1) warm up the
group, (2) select participants, (3) set the stage, (4) prepare the
observers, (5) enact, (6) discuss and evaluate, (7) reenact, (8)
discuss and evaluate, and (9) share experiences and generalize
(Shaftel and Shaftel, 1967). The intent of the Shaftel model,
and of the investigators several variations of it, was to teach
problem-solving attitudes and skills such as the ability to
identify a problem, to design a plan to resolve it along with
alternative techniques, and to experience the consequences of
a variety of different ways to handle problem situations. No
game-like elements or rewards were added to the role-playing
used in this study.
A unique educational advantage of the Shaftel model is
their fourth stage preparing the observers. By assigning
students who are not actually playing one of the roles to
specifically observe one of the players, all members of the
class become directly involved in the process. Then, during
the sixth stage - discuss and evaluate - non-participating
students are asked to report out on their reaction to the role
that was played: was it realistic, was it successful, what values
were being upheld by the players, is there another way the
role could be played to reach the same conclusion or a
different conclusion? In large university classes, students are
more likely to become and remain engaged in the role-play if
they have been given a direct assignment to observe and
critique one particular player than if they are simply present in
the room when other students are role-playing.
In therapeutic settings, when role-play is used, participants
are encouraged to focus on feelings, and that type of roleplaying known as psychodrama or sociodrama is therefore
designed to allow for feelings to be expressed along with
insight into ones own behavior and that of others. On the
other hand, in the educational setting, the Shaftel model
emphasizes the intellectual content as much as the emotional
content, and the analysis and discussion that follow the
enactment are as important as the role-play itself (Joyce &
Weil, 1980). In the role-plays in the current study, students
were encouraged to do both to acknowledge their feelings
and to address the cognitive course content being tapped by
the vignette. Further they were asked to look for the
assumptions which underlie peoples verbalizations and
behavior. As the post-role-play discussions continued,
students were also asked to identify the values that were being
expressed. The Shaftel model is designed to deemphasize the
traditional role of the professor and instead for the professor
to listen and learn from the group. When the learner has an
opportunity to interact and to collaborate with others on
instructional tasks, learning is enhanced (American

Psychological Association, 1997). A final goal of the Shaftel

model and of this research was therefore to allow students the
opportunity to bring to their conscious awareness their own
values while testing them against the views of others. In
teacher education this is of significant importance as
instructors try to move students to where they may either
validate their current values or to revise them as they learn
from other positions and value systems.
An original vignette or written scenario was provided to
the students on an overhead projector, and students were
instructed to determine what they thought the intended
outcome or solution to the problem should be. They were
then instructed to plan techniques or dialogue they would use
to accomplish their intended outcome. While the students
were writing their plans, a table and chairs were placed in
front of the classroom. At that point students volunteered (and
in some cases were selected) to role-play the parts in the
vignette. After the role-play was concluded, the investigators
and the other class members provided feedback and reactions.
Additional role-plays were then conducted using the same
vignette to give other students the opportunity to try out their
own implementation ideas and interaction styles.
Variations or adaptations that were added to the Shaftel
model for this study included having the students plan in
advance and to write out how they would act out their roles,
focusing on their designation of an intended outcome. A
second variation allowed the student portraying the
coach/physical education teacher to pick a back-up to sit
behind him/her during the role-play to serve as a helper (to
make helpful suggestions from the sidelines) if he/she hit an
impasse with the person playing the other character in the
vignette. A final very popular variation called for all the
students in pairs to do practice role-plays at their seats (to try
out their ideas and plans) before volunteering to role- play in
front of the class. Each of these variations was used with some
of the vignettes, but not with all of the vignettes.
3.3 The Vignettes Used for Role Plays
According to Schick (2008), role-play participants are
more likely to give full effort and to be motivated to
accomplish the tasks and thereby acquire the skills being
taught when a role-play is about something that they find
personally meaningful. The five original vignettes used for the
role-plays were composed because the content was deemed to
be personally meaningful to this group of students. The
following issues that students might reasonably encounter
both in their service-learning activity and as beginning
teacher/coaches were: public school students not motivated to
participate; aggressive students who are hurting other
students; sexual harassment toward the teacher/coach;
challenging the teacher/coachs authority; and establishing a
working relationship with a senior coach who is not interested
in the schools physical education program. In all of the
vignettes except the one with the senior coach, all roles were
played by members of the class. In the vignette about the
senior coach, one of the investigators played the role of the
coach. When the investigator was role-playing, the students
loved getting a chance to outsmart their professor. One of
the most interesting responses that occurred after each of the
post-role-play discussions was completed was that students
volunteered other similar situations that they would also like
to role-play. After the role-play on sexual harassment by a
male student toward the young female teacher/coach, for
example, students suggested they role-play sexual harassment

toward a male from a female student and also same-sex

harassment for both genders. Like the pre-service students
described by Sobel & Taylor (2005), our students too
requested more real-world scenarios to solve.

also served to address some of the quantitative limitations and

provided a more complete and in-depth description of
phenomena happening within the study.
4. Results & Discussion

This is the vignette used for the too-aggressive student:

4.1Course Effectiveness Questionnaire
Fifth period rolls around and this time
the juniors and seniors enter the gym for a
class called team sports. They tell you
they have been playing a flag football unit
and a few students go into the closet and
pull out the necessary equipment .A
senior named Dominick divides up teams
and runs the class very efficiently leaving
you very little time and opportunity to
manage and/or control anything. The
game begins and Dominick exhibits
extremely aggressive behavior toward the
opposing team hitting students hard and
tripping and tackling them to the ground
violently. He is also abusive to his own
teammates, yelling at them when they
make mistakes and blaming them for
anything that goes wrong on their team. It
is obvious the students are afraid of him
and will do anything to try and just
appease him and/or stay out of the way.
You ask Dominick to speak with you in
the office. What is your next move?
3.4 Sources of Data: Quantitative
Two sources of quantitative data were used for analysis in
this study. The first utilized a 14-item likert-scale
questionnaire developed by the provosts office regarding
course effectiveness and class interaction in a university
course. This instrument was administered three times at even
intervals to pre-service teachers throughout each of the control
and role-play semesters. Based on relevance to this study,
only six of the original 14 questions were retained for
analyses. Because data was collected on participants in this
course the academic year previous to when the role-play
interventions were conducted, a quasi-experimental nonequivalent groups design was applied to this dataset using a
paired samples T-test analysis. This test compares the means
of two variables, computes the difference between the two
variables for each case, and tests to see if the average
differences are significantly different at the p<.05 level. The
second set of quantitative data was collected from a
summative and descriptive questionnaire specifically
addressing the usefulness of the role-play activities in the
course and comparing it to traditional lecture-style methods.
This questionnaire was only administered to the pre-service
teachers who participated in the role-play activities during the
very last semester of the intervention (i.e., intervention groupspring 2012 [N=24]).
3.5 Sources of Data: Qualitative
Using a naturalistic approach (Lincoln & Guba, 1985),
qualitative data was collected in the form of a role-play
questionnaire, a student focus group, and individual
reflections written by the instructors. This data was recorded,
transcribed, and analyzed, noting all salient and recurring
units of meaning that were reported. These themes not only
helped explain and clarify the quantitative findings, but they

Findings from the course effectiveness questionnaire

showed significantly higher scores reported among preservice teachers who participated in the role-play activities on
two of the six items (Figure 1). The first item, The instructor
asked students in class to participate in a discussion of the
topic at hand? exhibits how using role-play in a course can
force the instructor to engage students with the content at
hand and create more of a student-centered teaching and
learning environment. The second item, The student asked or
responded to a question from the instructor or fellow
students? demonstrates and supports what others have found
in the literature about the level of participant engagement
required of role-play activities and the effect it can have on
participants.
4.2 Role-Play Questionnaire
Responses to the five descriptive questions on the
summative role-play questionnaire were as
follows:
Q1) Have you had previous participation in role-play
activities?
No: 17
Yes: 7
Note: The 7 students who said they had previously
participated in role-play activities stated that they had all
experienced role-play in their university teacher education
courses except for one student who said she had
experienced role-play in a high school theatre arts course.
Q2) Describe your reaction to the use of role-play as
preparation for your service learning as well as for
your first teaching job:
Very helpful: 24
Not helpful: 0
Q3) Comparing role-play to the traditional university lecture
method, which do you prefer?
Prefer traditional lecture method: 0
Prefer role-play scenarios: 22
Likes both equally: 2
Q4) Describe your learning engagement level during roleplays compared to lecture style:
More engaged during role-play 21

Mentally engaged but did not volunteer to roleplay in front of the class 3

I had to pay attention because I didnt have the situations in a

book to read later.

Note: One of these three students explained: There were

sometimes where I could have participated, but opted not to.
In my mind I was engaged with responses to the reactions of
my classmates during their individual role-plays. It became
obvious to the researchers that these three students had
misunderstood the use of the term engaged as used in this
role-play questionnaire.

Being able to reflect back on these role-plays and notes I

took will help me handle that situation better than I would if I
had no prior experiences.

Q5) Regarding your critical thinking ability, compare the two

styles:
More engaged in critical thinking during roleplay 23
More engaged in critical thinking during lecture
1
Note: This second students explanation was Because
everyone was thinking at one time, I didnt have to. But
further in the questionnaire, he wrote: Im a hands-on
learner, and the role-playing scenarios actually put me in the
situation instead of just reading about it in a book.
Other specific comments on the questionnaire included:
Role-play gets you closer to the real deal rather than listening
to someone just tell you how to react. It was never boring; I
was always eager to see how different people would respond.
I looked forward to seeing all the different techniques. I feel
like it forces you to respond quickly while thinking critically
as opposed to lecture where people can just act like they are
paying attention.

They help me figure out the goal because we may not have
really known it before then. I need to focus on the goal and
not allow my emotions to overtake the goal. (Note: The
comment by this student refers to their instructions to write
out the intended goal before attempting the role play.)
Role-Play gives me a lot better idea of real world
situations and it has put more tools in my bag.
Only when you find yourself in a problem situation do you
learn the feelings, obstacles, etc. as if you really would in the
real world. It really doesnt help me personally to be told how
to handle a situation. It is easier to learn through DOING.
The biggest benefit was that I was able to hear how others
would respond to specific situations. As I watched others
participate, I was able to place myself in the situation and
think more critically about my answers.
Overall, their answers on the questionnaires revealed that
learning from ones peers, trying out ideas in a safe
environment, being forced to plan an intended outcome in
advance, and hearing feedback from others were their most
valued experiences.

Figure 1. Paired Samples Tests of Course Effectiveness Survey Items

Mean Difference

Std.

(Control-Experiment)

Deviation

Sig. (2-tailed)

1. Instructor asked students to participate in a

discussion of the topic at hand.

-0.12

.59

-2.115

.037*

2. Instructor allowed students to interact,

compare notes, work in groups, etc.

-0.06

.51

-1.337

.183

3. Instructor called for students to provide

feedback on what is happening in the class.

-0.04

.57

-.744

.458

-0.03

.66

-.515

.607

5. Students helped a fellow student better learn

a concept.

0.04

1.19

.355

.723

6. Students asked or responded to a question

from the instructor or fellow students.

-0.19

1.06

-2.080

.039*

4. Students worked together with other students.

* Significant at the p < .05 level

4.3 The Focus Group

Discussions that emerged from the focus group included
themes relevant to situations likely to occur while working in
a secondary public school setting (e.g., planning for success,
confidence building, effective communication, and utility of
process). All comments were in one way or another
reflections about the authenticity of training for life in schools
despite the fact that it was not literally on the job training.
Finding ones style or strategy for dealing with the challenges
and realities of the profession was explicit, as it was noted
time and again that this learning strategy was effective at
bringing out individual strengths and weaknesses when it
came to dealing with common situations educators are faced
with every day. As a result, the role-play experience provided
an initial or baseline realization about how pre-service
teachers are likely to respond on the job, allowing for deepseated reflection and self-analysis of how to handle similar
situations that are just around the corner in their servicelearning projects and/or student teaching residency.
The other part of the focus group discussion reflected some
of the benefits of going through an authentic and mentored
kind of learning exercise without being tied to a real
situation with direct consequences. Not too often are novice
teachers allowed a trial run-through that encourages
mistakes to be made without any real consequences to
students. This includes the affordability role-play allows to
take a time-out, consider multiple angles and solutions, and
re-think how to approach a particular situation. These
exercises allowed for extra time and space for questions, new
ideas, elaborations, and redirection of an experience in order
to gain depth and understanding of the appropriate (and
inappropriate) ways to approach or handle teaching
interactions and learning situations. This is critically
important since we know that a teachers word choice, body
language, and personal disposition represents everything
meaningful when working with students.
It was also discussed that this platform makes it possible to
learn from multiple people with diverse experiences (not just
the professor), and to gain a multi-dimensional perspective
about how to deal with the problem effectively and in
different contexts. Finally, there was consensus among
participants that the role-play strategy helped preprofessionals better foresee challenges and to take the
necessary time (or buy time) to prepare for precarious
situations that are likely to occur at some point in their career.
In effect, the role-play activities enabled teacher candidates to
be on the lookout for conflict or divergence, to be proactive
rather than reactive, and to know how to best take advantage
of an opportunity when presented.
4.4 Investigators Observations
Much to the credit of teacher education research over the
past few decades, literature has repeatedly pointed to
experiential training as an effective means for preparing
student teachers for their work in education (Coffee, 2010;
Domangue & Carson, 2008; Wasserman, 2009). This work
has largely focused on the implementation of theoretical and
content knowledge mixed with practical field experience
provisions (e.g., service-learning), beyond mere lecture and
examination of generalized course material. Although this
push has enhanced teacher education methodology to include
practical experience and guided reflection with experienced
mentorship, service-learning in itself still has its limitations.

Foremost, service-learning is affecting learners in real-time

and you do not get do-overs. You cant just call time-out
and reexamine how you would handle a situation or take a
moment to analyze all the variables that go into split-second
decision-making when working with large groups of students;
you are still teaching in real-time. By adding in a third
component like role-play into this teacher training trifecta,
teacher educators have another tool to prepare for likely
situations by evaluating, analyzing, and redirecting a
preparatory experience before the actual service-learning
experience takes place. In determining whether learning did or
did not take place, we agree with Jonnassen, Peck, & Wilson
(1999) that assessment of this type of activity is processoriented, and one of the most valid forms of assessment is
therefore to assess while the learning is occurring.
5. Conclusion
Every secondary level teacher knows that working with
teenage students is not always an easy job. Every day there is
a new challenge that educators must face, and it takes time
and experience to learn how to handle situations appropriately
with this population. Gaining real-world experience in a
university setting is oftentimes difficult because access to
schools and students is also never easy or convenient. Using
role-play techniques to guide future educators for those likely
difficult encounters is an effective way to construct a platform
for the exploration of issues, provide practical mentorship,
and inspire reflection about best practices. This study has
shown that academic role-play in a teacher education course
with a service-learning component can improve course
interaction between instructors and students and also between
students and students, therefore strengthening the activelearning dynamic in a university classroom. With regard to
the specific questions addressed in this research, we conclude
that the use of the adapted version of Shaftels role-play
model did (1) increase students classroom interactions with
peers and with the instructors; (2) did increase students
positive responses to course content, especially as compared
to the same content taught without the use of role-play; and
(3) did increase students confidence toward their ability to
succeed in the service learning activity as well as in their
student teaching. Future research, however, is needed to
explore whether and to what extent student background
variables such as age, gender, performance anxiety level, and
previous academic as well as non-academic role-playing
experience would make a difference in students reactions and
responses. Since this research utilized an adapted version of
the Shaftel role-play model, results may have been different if
only the original nine-step Shaftel model had been used. It
would also be interesting to determine if the students would
have responded in the same way if they were only going to
become future teacher/coaches but were not also preparing to
do a service-learning project that would affect their course
grades. Because this study did not control for those variables,
and because of the small N, generalizing regarding the use of
role-play with all teacher education students studying to
become coaches and physical education teachers while
enrolled in service-learning courses should be made with
caution.

Notes. 1. To prepare future teachers for their student

teaching/practicum/residency semester required by most states in
America, teacher educators often require students to role-play a
teacher in a micro teach format within which they teach a lesson to a
simulated class of students.

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