The Concise Oxford English Dictionary (1978 edition) definition of role-playing is: ‘behaving in accordance
with specified function’. This is accurate but a working definition of role-play is more difficult to arrive at
largely because it is associated with ‘dramatic’ activity in the minds of teachers, and also because of confusion
in the literature arising from its relatedness to play, games and simulation (Jones, 1985).
Role-play is a product of ‘play’, ‘games’ and ‘simulation’, and definitions of these are provided in
Box 1. In science education role-play may be seen as an interaction between these three components – either
in combination or by themselves – and the child who ‘performs’ the activity, resulting in learning outcomes
(Figure 1). It is suggested in this model that there is progressively increasing intellectual rigour involved
as you move from play to games to simulations. Again, in this model, all aspects of role-play are derived from
‘play’