BEYOND BOUNDARIES - LIVE-ACTION ROLE PLAY IN THE CLASSROOM AS A PATHWAY TO INTEGRATIVE LEARNING

21st-century learning calls for integrative approaches which offer meaningful learning experiences that are interdisciplinary in nature. There is a need for developing new ways of learning that are bridging the formal and informal, and draws on the interests of the learners and the competencies and motivation this may bring to the classroom.

Games and play is a way of bridging the formal learning environment with the enthusiasm and flow of the informal and intrinsically motivated learning. One particular genre of games is the Live-Action Role Play Games that are a popular leisure activity especially in Scandinavian countries.
A concept of Live-Action Role Play Games as a curricular frame-work has been developed over the last eight years at a residential school in Denmark, Østerskov Efterskole, which is basing their entire curriculum grade 8 to 10 on narrative Role-Play Scenarios.

This paper reports preliminary results from a mixed-methods research project, focused at the game-based framework developed at this unique school. The project is exploring how Live-Action Role Play Games can be implemented in secondary school and offer models for a framework for inter-disciplinary and meaningful learning.