AbtrsakPenelitian ini berlatar belakang pada kenyataan bahwa dalam pembelajaran Tarikh, guru masih menggunakan metode ceramah, hal ini membuat siswa bosan dan tidak semangat belajar, sehingga pemahaman materi siswa sangat rendah. Di dalam kegiatan pembelajaran guru tidak menggunakan metode pembelajaran yang menarik sehingga proses belajar siswa kurang kondusif.Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian tindakan kelas (PTK) yang terdiri dari dua siklus. Dengan menggunakan metode observasi aktivitas siswa dan tes sselama proses pembelajaran dengan menggunakan metode role playing. Penelitian ini dilakukan di SMA Muhammadiyah 5 YogyakartaNilai rata-rata pada penerapan metode role playing dapat meningkatkan pemahaman belajar Tarikh, hal ini terlihat dari hasil pra siklus, siklus I, dan siklus II, rata-rata persentase,hal ini terlihat dari rata-rata hasil lembar observasi yang terus meningkat pada setiap siklusnya. Rata-rata aktivitas belajar siswa pada siklus I sebesar 64,00% dan pada siklus II meningkat menjadi 83,88%, sedangkan peningkatan pemahaman siswa dari siklus I ke siklus II sebesar 19,88%.Berdasarkan hasil penelitian tersebut maka dapat disimpulkan bahwa penerapan metode role playing dapat meningkatkan pemahaman materi tarikh.Kata kunci : peningkatan pemahaman, metode Role-Playing, pembelajaran tarikhAbstracThis research is based on the fact that in the learning date, the teacher still uses the lecture method, this makes students bored and not enthusiastic about learning, so that the students' material understanding is very low. In learning activities the teacher does not use interesting learning methods so that the learning process of students is less conducive.This research is a classroom action research (CAR) consisting of two cycles. By using the observation method of student activities and tests during the learning process by using role playing methods. This research was conducted at Muhammadiyah 5 High School YogyakartaThe average value on the application of role playing methods can improve understanding of learning dates, this can be seen from the results of pre cycle, cycle I, and cycle II, the average percentage, this can be seen from the average results of the observation sheet that continues to increase in each the cycle. The average learning activity of students in the first cycle was 64.00% and in the second cycle increased to 83.88%, while the increase in understanding of students from cycle I to cycle II was 19.88%.Based on the results of these studies it can be concluded that the application of role playing methods can improve understanding of date materialKeywords: kognitif improvement, role playing metdhod, Tarikh lesson