“I have gained self-confidence”. Exploring the impact of the role-playing technique STARS on students in German lessons

Abstract

Finding tools that stimulate creativity, empathy and self-confidence is one of the core challenges of the 21st century. Performative education being one of them, a need for developing convincing performative concepts arises (Jogschies, Schewe & Stöver-Blahak 2018). The improvisational role-playing technique edu-larp constitutes one such tool, combining the training of social and personal skills with the exploration of various themes. An adaptation of this format to institutional settings coined STARS (STudent Activating Role-playing gameS, Geneuss 2019) has been applied in several schools in Bavaria. To ascertain the students’ perspective on their perceived learning, data from 161 quantitative surveys were further augmented by feedback-talks. To gain insight into the teachers’ perspective on how the tool can be implemented in German lessons, which general skills can be trained and what challenges might arise when applied in formal education, we applied a qualitative design grounded upon 7 interviews. It emerges that applying edu-larp in classrooms is perceived as a meaningful tool to treat curricular topics. It also contributes to train social and personal skills, which in turn can lead to self-confident face-to-face interaction. Yet, multiple challenges keep educators from applying the technique.