ROLE-PLAYING IN THE FORMATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CITIZENSHIP OF THE U.S. STUDENTS

Abstract

The article highlights the peculiarities of role-playing as one of the effective methods of participatory learning in forming ecological citizenship of students of higher education institutions in the USA. The purpose of this article is to highlight the features of role-playing in developing environmental citizenship among students at higher education institutions in the United States. Achieving this purpose required addressing the following tasks: 1) to understand the role of American universities in integrating principles of environmental, social, and governance initiatives into their research and educational activities; and 2) to examine the specifics of using role-playing as a participatory learning method to foster environmental citizenship among students in U.S. higher education.
The research design of this study is descriptive and analytical, based on a deductive-narrative approach and a set of complementary theoretical methods, including critical analysis and generalization of philosophical, psychological, and pedagogical sources on the analyzed problem and the monographic method, which interprets the obtained results in a coherent logical perspective.
It is noted that in the conditions of sustainable development of society, pedagogical technologies for the formation of ecological citizenship of students have become the cornerstone of educational and research initiatives of US universities.
It is emphasized that American higher education institutions widely use participatory learning methods, among which role-playing is prominent. The role-playing game in higher education in the USA is considered a successful educational and cognitive activity for studying complex topics or solving problems of ecological direction. The effectiveness of exploiting the role-playing method to form students’ ecological citizenship depends on the extent to which its content and form will interest students, influence their perception of the world, promote self-development, and therefore correspond to such principles as: direct involvement of students; use of associative connections based on past experience; the development of cognitive interest, which ensures the constant expansion of the horizons of each student; personal interpretation of educational situations; self-improvement as a result of conscious and purposeful interpersonal interaction and knowledge of oneself and the world as a whole through dialogue; self-reflection and self-regulation, which is evidence of moral and ethical maturity of students in the field of environmental issues.