Playing Science: Role-Playing Games as a Way to Enter Scientific Activity

The problem of introducing science, scientific method and scientific way of thinking to schoolchildren and students is very familiar today. Simulations and games can extend regular education in this field. In this paper we describe how the framework of Vygotsky's activity theory and the thought-activity pedagogics can be used as a theoretical basis for reconstructing scientific activity inside a game. We describe the experience of creating and conducting several educational role-playing games for presenting the essence of biological science to students. These games recreated the main aspects of scientific activity: experimental and theoretical work, scientific conflict and scientific management. The educational outcome proves the effectiveness of the method.