Learn how role-playing games can be used to hone written and analytical skills through play. Participants will simulate a brief activity to showcase how students can practice using evidence in argumentation, underscoring the influence of perspective in determining the actions of diverse historical actors. Participants will be briefed on the background on the historical period before assigning roles and objectives. Attendees will role-play a town meeting in a fictional French town during World War I. Participants must use their role sheets to decide whether to alert the local military commander, who will destroy their beloved church to root out a foreign threat, or save their church by saying nothing, and hoping the threat passes. Learn how the activity can be adapted to emphasize writing, discussion, and research skills and cultivate curiosity and empathy without agreement with historical actors' decisions.
