Drama Education Research Articles

Creativity Cultivation in Primary School Drama Courses: An Exploratory Case Study

This study delves into the symbiotic relationship between drama education and the cultivation of creativity. By integrating insights from teaching practices and educational trends, it proposes novel teaching methodologies for drama courses to enhance creativity development. These courses emerge as potent tools for nurturing students' creative potential, employing professional and standardized guidance methodologies. Rooted in principles like drama element training, core literacy-focused teaching, thematic instruction, and organic integration, these methods collectively form a comprehensive framework for enriching drama education. Drama courses not only provide an effective educational avenue for fostering creativity but also offer aesthetic solutions that counteract the limitations of exam-centric education. By incorporating creativity-driven teaching practices inspired by national educational initiatives, these approaches aim to instill holistic and lifelong learning outcomes. This research underscores the transformative power of drama education in fostering creativity and enhancing educational practices, ultimately preparing students for the challenges of a dynamic and evolving world.

Conceptual PlayWorlds: A transformational model for children’s learning and development in an early childhood education setting in Indonesia

Structured and teacher-directed play focused on children’s academic outcomes has proven problematic in Indonesian early childhood education. This contrasts with the PlayWorlds model, which emphasises both the primary activity of play and conceptual learning. However, there has been little research in Indonesia on the pedagogical aspects of the PlayWorlds model in creating conditions for children’s learning and development. The purpose of this study is to highlight the distinctive pedagogical and contextual aspects of Indonesian PlayWorlds by investigating how the implementation of the PlayWorlds model creates conditions for children’s learning and development. Using cultural-historical concepts to analyse the data, the findings reveal a transformational model of PlayWorlds that highlights five key elements: teachers’ role as play partners, the dialectical meaning-making process, degrees of freedom, motives and contradictions, and the unity of emotion and cognition. This model is shown to support pedagogical concepts and practices by providing opportunities for children’s development in play through the integration of imaginative, cognitive and affective skills. It is argued that the transformative paradigm of PlayWorlds as an innovative play pedagogy holds promise for children’s learning and development, while recognising play as their primary activity.

The Significance and Influence of Drama Education on High School Students in the Eyes of the Public

Abstract: Drama is a distinctive art form that has the ability to portray the characteristics of its characters in a way that resonates with the audience, providing them with both education and enlightenment. In the performance, it is easy for people to have empathy, and they will look at things from the perspective of others so as to gain experience and improve their abilities. The primary focus of this study is to investigate the significant impact of drama education on students, as well as the varying attitudes towards drama among individuals of different age groups. Therefore, this article will observe oneself from the perspective of drama, interview the public and obtain information through searching. The article discusses the role of drama in providing insight into the lives of contemporary high school students, and further examines how it facilitates emotional expression among this demographic.

Exploring Play as the Nexus of Games and Playfulness

In this paper we provide an original theoretical framework for conceptualising the relationship between play, games, and playfulness. This framework is intended to support in understanding the different potential benefits and drawbacks of the use of games and playful approaches in universities. To evidence its significance across the sector, we apply the framework to seven different forms of play pedagogy used in Higher Education. First, we define and differentiate between games as problem-solving systems and playfulness as an engagement philosophy. We highlight the advantages of games as experiential learning environments and as intrinsically engaging tools, and the benefits of playfulness for promoting lusory attitudes within ludic communities. We argue that play – encompassing both an activity form and state of mind – can be conceived as the nexus of games and playfulness, bringing the affordances of both as well as additional synergistic benefits relating to the normalisation of failure. Second, we present a taxonomy of seven forms of playful learning in higher education that emerged from a large-scale literature review of the use of play in higher education over the past fifty years. These are: roleplay, simulations, traditional play, play worlds, ludification, playmaking, and alternate realities. This taxonomy is then tested against the literature base to provide a suite of examples of different ways in which playful learning encompass games and playfulness. We conclude by discussing the limitations and potential uses of this approach when applied to the practice of play as a pedagogy.

Time to rhyme!

Karen Hart, writer, early years practitioner and drama teacher, shares ways other practitioners can use and encorporate nursery rhymes into their practice to foster language and communication skills and support other areas of the EYFS.

Practitioners’ Experiences of School Readiness in Rural Early Childhood Centres in QwaQwa Free State, South Africa

The analysis of the school preparation experiences of rural early childhood practitioners. Multiple complex issues exist regarding school preparedness in South Africa. Research has found that many South African children are unprepared for formal schooling. Some of the challenges experienced by these young learners were low reading strength, learning setbacks and complications, and sluggish general development. As a result of these issues, young children face long-term repercussions. These include the inability to escape the cycle of poverty, lack of educational support, and poor socioeconomic conditions within their environment. Therefore, it can be argued that teaching within the South African public schooling context is marred with difficulties and unforeseen challenges. It is difficult to imagine how to modify South African infrastructure so all children can reach their full potential. Given that our ancient past is still rife with historical and power changes, the government must consider several factors while developing ways to aid transformation. This study investigated the perspectives of practitioners on school preparedness. At the same time, it investigates the significant learning at the grass-roots level that emerged from participation in a critical paradigm-based participatory action research project. The study is anchored in a philosophical methodology that leverages Practitioners’ idea that early childhood learners are ready for formal school. They do not emphasize play as a pedagogy for learning in preparation for school readiness. This paper is grounded in constructivism, which helps comprehend how school readiness knowledge improves formal education for young students. The author used the qualitative research approach with an interpretive paradigm to explore practitioners’ school readiness experiences. The author developed a semi-structured interview schedule to collect data from six practitioners in the Thabo-Mofutsanyana district in the Free State Province. The findings revealed practitioners lacked appropriate training and support in preparing young learners in ECD centres. Furthermore, practitioners lacked appropriate pedagogical skills to strengthen teaching and learning. The study recommended that practitioners receive ongoing professional teacher development in school readiness and use various teaching and learning strategies such as play pedagogy.

Exploratory evaluation of the pilot programme of Round Midnight Virtual Decisions: KNIVES Workshops, a VR-Based Violence Prevention Programme

Round Midnight is a creative arts company that specialises in the use of drama and technology in education. They piloted a series of Virtual Reality (VR) based workshops for children and young people across Birmingham, focusing on issues within communities such as knife crime and gang violence. An exploratory evaluation of the initial impact of the workshops was carried out in two Year Five and Year Six classes in a primary school in Birmingham. Quantitative and Qualitative pre- and post-survey data from children, and a teacher focus group, were used to assess the influence of the programme on the following: (1) Understanding knife crime, the misconceptions and why people may carry knives; (2) Understanding the dangers, consequences and implications of carrying knives; (3) Recognising loyal and trustworthy friendships; (4) Recognising how to resolve conflict safely.Survey data suggested a decrease in children’s self-reported likelihood of carrying a knife after they had participated in the workshops. The data suggested children had more in-depth knowledge of knife crime, including the misconceptions, consequences and impacts of carrying a knife after participating in the workshops. Children also showed an understanding of safe conflict resolution after the workshops. Overall, the data suggests that the pilot of the Round Midnight Virtual Decisions: KNIVES curriculum had a positive impact on children’s knowledge, understanding and attitudes toward knife crime. Practical applications are discussed.

Construction and Development of the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for Drama and Film and Television Disciplines

Taking the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of the Central Academy of Drama as an example, this article explores the construction and development of the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for the practical teaching of drama and film and television disciplines. The article first introduces the background and importance of the demonstration center and then analyzes in depth the construction content and achievements of the demonstration center from four aspects: practical teaching philosophy, practical teaching system, practical teaching resources, and practical teaching effects. Finally, the article summarizes the experience and shortcomings of the demonstration center and proposes future development directions and suggestions.

Drama in STEAM education: Possible approaches and connections to drama-based activities in STEAM education

AbstractDrama in Education (DiE) has been a well-known teaching technique for an active learning approach for students. It utilizes different forms of conventions to enhance a student's learning experience in the classroom, offering alternatives instead of the traditional teaching approaches. Drama can encourage students to learn and think critically and improve public speaking, communication, and confidence. The article portrays the use of drama activities in STEAM education by depicting the benefits and challenges. This study uses a qualitative approach to collect data, including relevant literature, descriptions of drama activities, and observation. The findings display that drama in STEAM education can improve and stimulate students' learning and knowledge in a particular subject. This study aimed to view 19 higher education students' perspectives of drama activities in STEAM. Two activities were completed during this pilot study and observations were made throughout the process. Furthermore, drama in STEAM stimulated the students, were more enthusiastic about exploring, examining and learning, socializing with their groupmates, and the confidence to perform.

A Study on College English Teaching Reform of Ideological and Political Education in the Curriculum to Improve Undergraduates’ Intercultural Communicative Competence

Traditional college English classes pay more attention to students’ language knowledge and skills, but not enough attention to their intercultural communicative competence, which makes many students unable to effectively carry out intercultural communicative and exchange. From the perspective of ideological and political education in the curriculum, this paper discusses how to integrate this concept into college English teaching design organically, and how to adopt educational drama mode to make innovative attempts on existing college English classroom activities, so as to help students better understand Chinese and Western cultures, guide them to correctly view cultural differences, and cultivate their intercultural awareness and ability.

A META ANALYSIS OF NOMINAL PHRASES WITH DRAMA AS HEAD NOUN AND MODIFIER

This study conducts a meta-analysis of nominal phrases with "drama" as the head noun and modifier, aiming to clarify the terminology within the field of drama education and address discrepancies in term usage across various linguistic contexts. Utilizing a quantitative approach, the research analyzes the frequency and usage patterns of drama-related terms in the British National Corpus (BNC) and Google Scholar. Significant disparities were found, indicating broader usage and diverse applications in Google Scholar compared to the BNC. The study highlights the need for standardized terminology to enhance communication and comparability in academic research. By defining key terms such as "drama activity," "drama play," and "educational drama," the analysis contributes to reducing ambiguities and fostering a more coherent dialogue within drama studies, thereby facilitating more effective educational practices and interdisciplinary collaboration.

Research on Multicultural Drama Education Based on Self-determination Theory: A Case Study of "Hamlet"

In a multicultural context, drama education, as a distinctive pedagogical paradigm, facilitates the achievement of educational objectives effectively. Compared to traditional classrooms, student-centered instruction based on self-determination theory places greater emphasis on nurturing students' intrinsic motivation for learning. This article uses the high school Chinese literature text "Hamlet" as a case study, applying the perspectives of autonomy, competence, and relatedness—the three psychological needs of self-determination theory—to various aspects of practical teaching. This approach constructs a framework for multicultural drama education.

Exploring Interactive Roles in the Communication Through Drama Online Classroom in Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia

This qualitative study aims to identify and categorize interactive roles within a Malaysian tertiary drama classroom. It examines the impact of virtual interaction on students' language learning experiences when using drama to improve communication. Employing focus group discussions as the primary data collection method, this research involves 20 undergraduates enrolled in the Communication Through Drama (EPC522) course offered under the LG240 program, i.e., the Bachelor of Applied Language Studies-English for Professional Communication (Hons) in Akademi Pengajian Bahasa, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia. The study is based on the Social Constructivist theory by Vygotsky (1962, 1978) and the Visible Thinking (VT) approach identified by Ritchhart (2006) as part of Project Zero (PZ) at Harvard University. Online platforms and tools utilized for interactive drama activities are specified in the study. The findings reveal the challenges faced in completing drama activities online and demonstrate that the implementation of VT routines enhances students' interactive roles and communication skills. Despite the challenges, students embraced this new educational experience that fosters a more interactive and student-centered environment. The implications of these findings for language education and drama pedagogy in Malaysia are discussed.

Enhancing intercultural communication skills: The impact of drama in Chinese language teaching

Enhancing intercultural communication skills: The impact of drama in Chinese language teaching

An Autoethnography of Teaching Drama to Student Teachers in Hong Kong

Schools in Hong Kong are encouraged to engage students in learning activities to strengthen moral and values education. The use of fairy tales in drama teaching—in this case, Mr. Fox—is an approach to learning that can present opportunities to positively engage students in a range of issues, such as moral and value education. The aim of this research was to enhance moral and values education by taking an autoethnographic approach to exploring my experiences of using and adapting a Western fairy tale with local student teachers learning to teach drama as part of their Master of Education degree at a university in Hong Kong. The use of various narrative genres to engage in the process of self-dialogue emerged as an important source for developing understandings of teaching and learning. Through this reflective process, I gained insights into my own teaching and the challenges and benefits of using fairy tales and structured drama in moral and value education. This research also revealed that fairy tales, as cultural treasures passed down through generations, may hold immense value as a resource for personal enjoyment, drama teaching, and academic exploration.

Nilai Moral Naskah Drama Liang Karya Puthut Buchori sebagai Alternatif Bahan Ajar Drama di SMA

This research aims to describe moral values play script Liang by Puthut Buchori and moral values play script Liang by Puthut Bucori as an alternative drama teaching materials in Senior High School. This research is a descriptive qualitative. The data was collected using a reading and note taking techniques. The text were analyzed using qualitative descriptive. The result of the study show that the moral value contained in the play Liang by Puthut Buchori is the moral value of human relations with oneself, which is to remain strong even though the storm hits. The moral values of human relations with other humans, namely advising each other, loving each other, helping each other, reminding each other, being aware of mistakes that have been made, fighting for each other, and being fair. The moral value of human relations with God, namely being grateful for the blessings given by God. The moral values contained in the play Liang by PuthutBuchori are appropriate to be used as an alternative for learning drama in high school which are contained in Basic Competence 3.19 Analyzing the content and language of the drama that is read or watched.

Study on the Role of Educational Drama in Promoting Students' Thinking Quality in Senior High School English Teaching

President Xi resently put forward developing education by insisting on the principle of people in the centre. The proposal of the core competencies of English also means that the idea of people-oriented education has been implemented in practice. For the first time, the thinking quality is clearly listed as the goal of English subjects, which further clarifies the educational value of English courses. As a student-centered teaching method, educational drama appeared in China at the beginning of this century because of its role in promoting the development of students’ language ability and thinking quality. Based on the discussion of the definitons of educational drama and thinking quality, this paper attempts to analyze the role of educational drama in promoting the development of students’ thinking quality in senior high school English teaching in order to promote the spread of educatinal drama in China.

Racial literacy and performative pedagogies in the German theater practicum

AbstractThis article explores the potential and pitfalls of performative pedagogies for teaching literature that thematizes issues of race and racism and argues that racial literacy requires a rethinking of drama‐pedagogical practice. An initial segment situates pedagogical discussions of race in North American German curricula within research on racial literacy and then considers the ethical limitations of the usual approaches from drama pedagogy (role‐play and identification exercises) when addressing literature about or from minoritized communities. The second half of the article outlines a case study of a performance‐oriented teaching unit in a German theater practicum course for German at the B2 level, which combined work on performing and staging poetry with a discussion of the Enlightenment's entanglement with white supremacy and scientific racism. Centering on Black German poet Philipp Khabo Köpsell's poem “The Brainage,” the unit raised the question of performative ethics, namely, how and whether the class, consisting of 11 white students and a white instructor, could ethically perform the poem in a live performance at the end of the semester. The article analyzes examples from student learning and the final live performance and makes the argument for performing the process of students’ encounter with literary form using theatrical means.

Evidence-based meets community-centred: A new approach to creating informal learning opportunities for children.

Informal learning spaces present ripe opportunities to supplement formal learning experiences. In this paper, we offer a new approach to creating enriching learning activities for public spaces that reflects evidence-based practices rooted in developmental psychology and uses community-centring practices from participatory research approaches. We first argue that extant theory and research supports the use of guided play pedagogy to foster learning. Second, we argue that effective translation of research to practice should incorporate community voices at every stage of the design, implementation and evaluation process. We describe a new initiative called Playful Learning Landscapes that reflects tenets of core developmental theory including constructivism and social learning theories as well as guided play pedagogy. Playful Learning Landscapes also extends the scope and scale of these evidence-backed theories by collaborating with communities to design activities for local community spaces. Taken together, we offer a way of upholding core developmental theory with equitable, culturally inclusive research and intervention practices. Transforming community spaces into hubs for children's learning promises wide-reaching implications for equitable access, school readiness and early childhood education.

Teaching EFL/ESL through Educational Drama: Trends and Effectiveness: A Systematic Review

The main goal of this study is to examine the trends and significant findings regarding educational drama in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms. This study analysed educational drama techniques literature in English language teaching published in international databases, Web of Science, EBSCO and Science Direct from 2012 to 2022. A bibliometric systematic review was conducted, yielding a total of 44 papers. Then, the authors, journals of publishing and language skills were recognised. An inductive content analysis distinguished two main research themes: linguistic and non-linguistic skills. The findings suggest that educational drama techniques should be adopted and adapted to enhance and integrate the four linguistic skills; speaking, listening, reading and writing. Furthermore, educational drama techniques have been proven to boost non-linguistic skills (social, emotional, motivation and learner autonomy). However, the undeniable benefits of drama in the educational process, both generally and in the fields of EFL and ESL, are still limited to a few countries where authors have experimented with its merits and drawbacks. Nevertheless, it is expected to spread worldwide in the coming years, increasing its reach and impact.