Interactive Role Playing Simulations to Promote Civil Discourse

Constructive dialogue requires more than discussing differences—it takes practice. Interactive Role-Playing Simulations to Promote Civil Discourse will create realistic, structured opportunities for participants to consider different perspectives, navigate disagreement, evaluate evidence, negotiate competing priorities, and solve problems collaboratively.

The project will develop an open-access collection of simulations for use by University of Michigan educators, students, staff, K–12 and higher-education partners, community organizations, and the public.

Audience

U-M students, faculty, and staff; students in other educational settings, including higher education and K-12; and non-student community members.

What it offers

Participants will take on assigned roles in timely, real-world scenarios and work with others to address complex challenges. Each activity will conclude with a guided debrief focused on dialogue, decision-making, and reflection.

• Practice discussing difficult issues respectfully and productively.
• Engage with perspectives, interests, and values that may differ from your own.
• Strengthen communication, negotiation, critical-thinking, and collaborative problem-solving skills.
• Explore complex issues through evidence-based reasoning and constructive disagreement.
• Reflect on which approaches helped or hindered dialogue.
• Participate in accessible simulations offered in both in-person and online formats.

Simulation activities

During the project’s first year, Professor Elisabeth R. Gerber and the EmPowered Teaching Initiative will design and test five to seven role-playing simulations with university, K–12, and community participants.

Possible scenarios may include campus-community crisis response, difficult conversations within teams, contested local decisions, public-policy tradeoffs, and situations involving competing values. The project will include:

• In-person pilots – Two to three facilitated simulation events with community and educational partners across Michigan.
• Online pilots – Three to four virtual simulations involving university, school, and community-based participants.
• Open-access resources – A publicly available online catalog containing scenario overviews, role descriptions, participant instructions, facilitator guides, debrief prompts, accessibility guidance, and evaluation tools.

Feedback from participants, facilitators, and partner organizations will be used to improve the simulations before their public release.

Impact on the public good

The project will give educators and community organizations practical tools for building civil-discourse skills in classrooms, training programs, public workshops, and community gatherings. Participants will develop greater confidence engaging across differences, stronger perspective-taking and dialogue skills, and a deeper understanding of complex public issues.

By making the materials reusable, adaptable, and publicly accessible, the project will create lasting capacity for constructive engagement at U-M, throughout Michigan, and beyond.