The Handbook of Secondary Gifted Education by Felicia A. Dixon

Author:Felicia A. Dixon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis

Character Parties: A Philosopher’s Soiree

Character parties from differing social studies disciplines provide an enriching activity requiring students to role-play historical figures. Character parties are not limited to historical situations. Students can dress as geographic terms—savannas, deserts, rivers, rain forests, swamps—and describe their importance and significance in a given nation. Role-playing specific sociology, psychology, or economics personalities are just as valuable. Artifacts representing the individuals are vital elements as props for initiating discussion, but more importantly, for serving as a physical representation that marks that individual’s key contribution to a particular event.

An example of a character party is a gathering of philosophers ranging from Socrates to Richard Rorty, pondering a central understanding such as “wisdom is not claiming to know what one actually does not know.” Essential questions addressing this understanding might involve “What is the nature of wisdom?”, “How are wisdom and knowledge connected?”, and “How does one know if wisdom has been exercised?” Each philosopher arrives at the gathering in costume with a specific physical prop that represents a key aspect of wisdom from his or her philosophy. The guests mingle with a specific purpose of conversing with a minimum of seven other philosophers (class size will determine how many interactions an instructor assigns). Following a 30–40-minute informal conversation, the philosophers sit in a circle to formally present their positions to their philosophical peers. The host (played by the instructor dressed in philosophical attire) can serve food and drink if permitted. An assessment of the role of wisdom in human existence through this activity can come from a scholarly analytical paper written in the perspective of the student’s assigned philosopher.

Role-playing debates (see example in Appendix 12.1), senatorial hearings, court cases of the Supreme Court, mock trials, and skits are constructive methods to employ creative approaches when engaging social studies content. Assessing how the students have successfully navigated the content to reflect a sophisticated level of complexity is the next piece of the puzzle to be examined.

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