Role Playing is Gaming with the Whole Body

Fighters with rapiers and daggers at a reenactment, 3 September 2007, 11:57, Crossed Blades, Jean, upload by Herrick, from Wikimedia Commons

Apparently, role-playing is undergoing a "renaissance."

Which is a wonderful play on words, as a lot of these stories are really medieval.

According to the WBUR story "You Be the Dragon Slayer":
The term interactive storytelling is used to describe all manner of games where both the audience and actors are part of the performance: live-action role-playing (LARPs); alternate reality games (ARGs) that often mix in technology or mobile devices; interactive theater; and everything in between, including old-fashioned role-playing games (RPGs) like D&D.

There is also the Society for Creative Anachronism.
(Sorta the anti-sport fencing.)

The connection here to museums is pretty clear, as there are a number of living history museums -- Old Sturbridge Village, Conner Prairie, and Plimoth Plantation to name a few -- that use role play as interpretation.

And there is a host of information coming out about gaming as educational, as well.
(Or not.  There is some debate.)

So is there some way we can combine these?

Higgins Armoury Museum already is.

Can we at indoor, non-armoury museums use this experience?

Get Outside!

The recent issue of ASCD Edge has an article "It's Time to Learn Outside," excerpts from Will Sterrett's Insights into Action: Successful School Leaders Share What Works.

The piece makes arguments for the benefits of getting outside the classroom and combatting "Nature-Deficit Disorder." This term comes from Richard Louv, who argues "growing gap between human beings and nature, with implications for health and well-being" (Last Child in the Woods, 2008. p. 26).

It also contains a helpful list of "Action Items." My favorite is this: "Get Outdoors, Anytime, for Any Reason- You don't have to have a specific nature-based unit in place to benefit from the outdoors. The bottom line is, students benefit individually and the classroom climate benefits as a whole from time spent in nature."

Point: getting outside helps learning and teaching.

Check it out here.