“I Really Enjoyed Pretending to Rob a Convenience Store”: Using Simulated “Deviance” as a Pedagogical Tool for Engaging Students with Criminological Theory

Lead Author: Dr Will Coyles

Additional authors:

Timetable: Friday Session 11: 10:30-11:00, Terrace Room

Description:

This session explores the results of a mixed-methods, survey study which evaluated the effectiveness of role-play simulation – a form of playful learning – as a pedagogical tool for promoting undergraduate criminology students’ (n=57) multi-dimensional engagement with criminological theory. Drawing upon the influential social-psychological model of Fredericks, Blumenfeld and Paris (2004), this study conceptualises engagement as a meta-construct comprised of three dimensions (emotional, behavioural and cognitive). Existing evidence suggests that students can often become disengaged across these dimensions when encountering criminological theory due to perceiving it as ‘irrelevant and boring’ (Hong Chui et al, 2020). They can struggle to see how the abstract and decontextualised concepts they encounter in lectures relate to the ‘real world’ of crime (DioGuardi, 2017). This study drew upon a variant of role-play simulation – known as ‘role-switch’ (Rao and Stupans, 2012) – to make criminological theory more relevant and meaningful to students by allowing them to assume the role of the “deviant”. It drew upon a paper-based exercise focusing on the application of crime script theory (Cornish and Clarke, 1994) to the phenomenon of shoplifting within a small group teaching context. Crime scripts are: “knowledge structures that organise offender decision making into the sequential logical steps for preparing, undertaking, and completing a crime” (Chainey and Berbotto, 2022: 21). Typically derived from a range of sources (e.g., offender and victim interviews and investigation files), they provide step-by-step accounts of the procedures and decision-making processes involved in crime. Students were provided with an incomplete crime script template which disassembled the crime of shoplifting into a series of stages. In small groups, they were asked to assume the role of the shoplifter and simulate shoplifting. They accomplished this by populating the template, identifying the actions and decisions they would take at each stage of the crime in order to complete it successfully.

During the session, delegates will be split into small groups and asked to simulate shoplifting by completing a crime script of their own. Following this, delegates will be asked to reflect upon their experience whilst engaging with the results of the study. These results illustrated that the role-play simulation was highly effective in multi-dimensionally engaging students with crime script theory. It will be shown that the role-play simulation was not only effective in promoting all three types of engagement (emotional, behavioural and cognitive), but that it also established a series of positive inter-relationships and feedback loops between discrete dimensions of engagement. These dynamics initiated a series of ‘upward spirals’ (Frederickson and Joiner, 2018) toward increasing engagement across all three dimensions of engagement during the teaching session. The influence of a series of positive, activating emotions (i.e., interest, excitement, fun, comfort etc.) – generated by the ‘thrill of transgression’ (Katz, 1988) within a simulated learning environment – on these outcomes will be explored. Additionally, statistical evidence will demonstrate that role-play simulation is a pedagogical tool that can be drawn upon to promote improved and equitable experiences of engagement amongst both first and continuing generation students.

References, web links and other resources:

Bowden, J., Tickle, L. and Naumann, K., (2021) The four pillars of tertiary student engagement and success: A holistic measurement approach’, Studies in Higher Education, 46 (6), 1207-1224.

Chainey, S., and Berbotto, A. (2022) ‘A structured methodical process for populating a crime script of organized crime activity using OSINT’, Trends in Organized Crime, 25 (3), 272-300.

Cornish, D. (1994). ‘The procedural analysis of offending and its relevance for situational prevention’, Crime prevention studies, 3 (1), 151-196.

DioGuardi, S. (2017) ‘Teaching criminological theory: using a Piaget platform to support higher level learning’, Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 28 (3), 441-460.

Fredrickson, B. and Joiner, T., (2002) ‘Positive emotions trigger upward spirals toward emotional well-being’, Psychological science, 13 (2), 172-175.

Fredrickson, B., and Joiner, T., (2018) ‘Reflections on positive emotions and upward spirals’, Perspectives on psychological science, 13 (2), 194-199.

Fredricks, J., Blumenfeld, P., and Paris, A., (2004) ‘School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence’, Review of educational research, 74 (1), 59-109.

Katz, S. (1989) Seductions of Crime: Moral and Sensual Attractions in Doing Evil, New York: Basic Books.

Rao, D. and Stupans, I. (2012) ‘Exploring the potential of role play in higher education: development of a typology and teacher guidelines’, Innovations in Education and Teaching International, 49 (4), 427-436.

Robinson, C. (2024) ‘Teaching criminological theory in higher education: What is known about enhancing student learning?’, Learning and Teaching, 17 (2), 94-116.