Abstract:

Nowadays students have a lot of information available in libraries, internet, etc. For this reason teaching process must insist not only on transmitting contents to the students but also on creating a natural critical environment. To this aim the application of group techniques can help students to participate freely and actively and, among other aspects, to gather a range of ideas, opinions, and concerns. Role-Playing is a group technique in which the students have to develop a role from some basic guidelines. It is very useful in critical learning because independently of their individual opinion they have to develop the assigned role and to defend it.

When teaching environmental management there are many points of view about some aspects and thus it is important for the students to get closer to these different realities. For instance, in Spain there is a debate about the implementation of deposit-return system for one-way packaging and refillable bottles to manage the packaging waste. In the Role-Playing carried out in the course “Impact of the Agro-industrial Techniques” the students had to simulate a TV program in which the advantages and disadvantages of deposit-return systems where debated. Five roles were assigned and the rest of the students have to follow the debate and to fill a test in which they evaluated the five actors taking into account formal and content aspects. The debate was filmed and commented in the next class. As a conclusion the implementation of Role-Playing in the course allowed the students to gain an insight into the problematic related with packaging waste taking into account the advantages and disadvantages of the existing waste management systems.