Learning through someone else’s day

1A university activity asked students to experience a day from someone else’s point of view. In a report published on 20 October, the University of Oklahoma describes a role-playing exercise for students preparing for health professions in Tulsa. Its aim was to build understanding and empathy.

2Each student received a family situation and financial circumstances. In the large room, their imagined homes were in the centre. Around them, tables represented places such as workplaces, schools, banks, shops and child care centres. Teachers and other participants played the people working at those places.

3The students had to try to meet their families’ needs. A person might know where help is available but have no transport to reach it. Another person might need to choose between buying food and paying a bill. The exercise encouraged students to think about these practical problems before judging another person’s decisions.

4This was a learning simulation, not a report that the students themselves lived in those situations. Our classroom photograph is a separate background image. The lesson’s speaking examples are also invented practice. What question could you ask to understand a difficult situation better?