Harald Sodemann
Interdisciplinary problems in natural sciences can be challenging to teach. A series of innovative teaching exercises was conducted in a Master’s level course in the field of Meteorology at the Geophysical Institute at the University of Bergen, Norway. Embracing the concept of student-active learning, students were assigned expert roles in a mockup board meeting. The students performed a role play in which they were asked to solve a challenging professional situation that touched upon different aspects they had learned about before in the lectures and from the syllabus. The role play was repeated again at the end of the course, but this time the characters in the role play were also assigned personalities which gave rise to dilemmas in terms of finding the optimal solution. The discussions were lead by one of the students and the outcome entirely open.
In oral and written evaluations, students reported substantially higher levels of engagement with the material than for more common teaching activities. Furthermore, the role play exercises allowed students to train for the final oral exam in an arena that was both challenging and fun. The effect is an improved constructive alignment in the course.
Ways to improve the role play activity concern the definition of boundary conditions that lead to realistic constraints during the discussions. This can be accomplished by delivering quantitative information for the discussion preparation beforehand.
In general, it is concluded that even in the context of a subject that has strong theoretical and mathematical components, role plays can be an enriching and motivating teaching activity, and be highly effective teaching tools if they contribute to the constructive alignment of the overall lecture course.
