ABSTRACT
Role playing brings up to date the teaching method implied in the old maxim ‘learning by doing’. But whereas the maxim refers to training on the job, role playing refers to training in the classroom where mistakes do not matter. Industry has used role playing for training foremen and salesmen particularly, but it has many possibilities for all kinds of industrial and commercial training. There are very many variations in the way role playing sessions can be conducted. Role playing is not limited to this, of course. The teacher allocates the roles of Mr Watson and the five older workers. A number of interesting group role playing situations have been devised by N. R. F. Maier, and are reproduced in his book Principles of Human Relations. Ready made role playing situations exist in practically all case study and filmstrip presentations. A variation on role playing is to use a fully scripted brief, or play or playlet.
