“This is the funniest lesson” : The production of positive emotions during role-play in the middle years science classroom

This study builds on our previous work where specific science activities, such as demonstrations and laboratory activities, evoked students’ positive emotional responses and focused students’ attention on the science content they were learning. In this study we were interested in students’ discrete emotions in a Year 8 science class expressed during a role-play activity in a biology unit on skin burns, called ‘Singed’. Data from two focus groups of students from the class are presented. Drawing on multiple data sources, including classroom video recordings, observations of classroom transactions, thinking prompts, field notes and emotion diaries completed at the end of each lesson, we developed insights into individual student emotions. Using a theoretical perspective drawn from theories of emotions founded in sociology, we identified that students expressed the emotions of happiness, joy, and enthusiasm during the role-play. These positive experiences aligned with a high interest score reported by students when the class results were averaged. Importantly, the thinking prompts which were questionnaires completed before and after the role-play, showed evidence of students’ learning and understanding of the science concepts related to skin burns. This study suggests that role-play can be used successfully as a teaching strategy in the middle years.