Edutainment through Role Playing

Edutainment is a word that is a combination of two words – Education and Entertainment. To explain the word simply, it means presenting the educational concept in an entertaining fashion. Edutainment is the concept that is being widely used now to initiate young children into the process of education and learning. The attention span of toddlers is limited, and hence it is incredibly challenging for educators to hold their interest for a more extended period of time. This is where edutainment comes into the picture. Some of the features of edutainment are:

 

• Edutainment aims at keeping the children engaged and drive learning through novel methods like role plays and simulations.
• It keeps children involved both mentally and physically by presenting them with challenges in both these categories.
• It encourages higher learning and retention as well as provides the children with the holistic concept of real-life situations.

 

Role-playing has emerged as a popular method of edutainment. Role-playing involves children enacting various roles pertaining to the concept that the educator is trying to teach. For e.g., If the concept of community helpers is being discussed in the classroom, then assigning roles of different community helpers like a doctor, firefighter, soldier, cobbler, etc. to various students and asking them to enact a part of their job would be an ideal exercise to deliver the concept.

 

Role plays under the umbrella of edutainment have also evolved, and many facets have been added to it. Mock Parliaments, a day at the Stock Exchange, transacting at a toll booth, etc. are all examples of role-playing techniques that help in building skills like negotiation, problem-solving, and conflict handling, to name a few. The many benefits of edutainment through role-playing are:

 

• It provides learning freedom: Forced academic settings and mandatory classrooms are passé. Children learn best when they are given the freedom to choose their learning. Self-directed plays and open-ended play helps children develop cognitively, emotionally, socially, and physically.
• It kindles the exploratory streak: Human beings are inquisitive in nature, and this instinct is stifled in standard settings. Edutainment through role-playing kindles the exploratory streak of children and keeps the quest for knowledge alive amongst them.
• Brings about positivity: The feeling of accomplishment of tasks and successful completion of these children learning games builds confidence and self-esteem. This further brings about positivity and openness to learning among young students.
• Weaves technology into learning: Technology is an integral part of everyone's life today. Role-playing games that involve the usage of technology like using walky-talky, tablets, and other gadgets ensure that useful technology becomes a part of the learning process.
• Intellectual stimulation: Role plays are mostly impromptu and need no preparation to be done beforehand. Thus, this activity becomes intellectually stimulating by involving processes like assimilatiroleon of the situation, assessment of best methods to use in the case, choosing the right methodology, and finding the perfect solution.

 

With kids becoming increasingly attracted to media and its forms, edutainment is going to be an integral part of the education of the future. Role-playing through education provides the perfect bridge between conventional and unconventional learning.