Drama and Social Studies

 In social studies, history, and geography, students develop skills, knowledge and understanding, and attitudes that will serve them both inside and outside the classroom, including in their communities and the world of work. The focus of teaching and learning in the social studies, history, and geography curriculum is the development of transferable skills that students need in order to acquire and apply knowledge and understanding. Students apply these skills in a variety of contexts to examine information critically, to assess the significance of events and processes, to develop an understanding of and respect for different points of view, and to reach supportable conclusions and propose solutions to problems (MOE, 2009, p.9). This being said, drama strategies can be utilized to further one’s understanding through both assessment and engagement. Implementing instructional drama  strategies within the social studies strand will allow for more authentic hands-on learning, providing students with options to show their knowledge and understanding  all in which aligns with The Universal Design for Learning (UDL). 

Studies examining social studies/ history education suggest that pedagogical techniques from drama/ theatre may be effective at teaching these subjects by helping students actively engage with and retain material. Drama-based strategies can be particularly effective in improving student reading skills (Rose et al., 2000). 

Strategy #1: Magic Hand! (warm up) 

The magic hand drama strategy is a warm up activity for various subjects, and can be easily applied to social studies. It allows students to further understand or become engaged with what is being taught through kinesthetic and visual lens. The warm up is as simple and fun as this; Ask your students to pull out their “magic finger” and follow along with you as you trace out an imaginary image. For example, if you are learning about geography, you can trace out a country or province together. 

Modifications: Students can use their bodies. Students can remain seated and use their arms and or move forward and backward if they have a wheelchair. 

Strategy #2: Role on the wall! (warm up) 

In Role on the Wall, the outline of a body is drawn on a large sheet of paper, which is stuck onto the wall (body of an animal, insect, plant etc.) Additionally, this can be as simple as a drawing of a gingerbread person (download template below), or the teacher can carefully draw around one of the participants lying on a roll of paper. Alternatively you can project an image onto the paper and draw around the silhouette. In our case, we used technology via a jamboard which was very effective and efficient. You then ask the students to develop words, facts or phrases describing the character, and write them around drawing or stick on with sticky notes. Inside the drawing is where you would put the internal feelings, thoughts or emotions of the character. This will help the students gain a better understanding of internal and external factors and feelings. It deepens one's understanding of perspective in a fun and engaging way, all in which can be used to assess student learning. This drama technique can be carried out as a group activity or by individuals writing about their own character. You can include known facts such as physical appearance, age, gender, location and occupation, as well as subjective ideas such as likes/dislikes, friends/enemies, opinions, motivations, secrets and dreams.

Strategy #3: A Day in the Life 

    A day in the life is a drama strategy that one can use in order for students to gain a stronger understanding of a perspective, which in social students could be a group of people in history, a historical figure, people in a historical time period and or individuals from various countries worldwide. Here, students are encouraged to think about what an average day would be like for the perspective of their choice. This includes thinking about time and place, two very dramatic elements, which then allows them to think deeper about internal and external factors that impact their everyday life. For example, we engaged in “a day in the life” the following in small groups. 

• OIL DRILLERS

• BUSINESS OWNERS

• BEAR RESEARCHERS

• CITY PLANNERS

We then had to act as though we were in a day of our life as such people, which allowed us to share facts, statistics, and valuable information that these perspectives had in relation to the province of Manitoba.  Drama Elements Used: Relationship & Role, Time & Place 

This was a very effective tool, especially when paired with other drama strategies such as “tableaux” or “writing in role”. It allows students to understand perspectives by engaging in dialogue, researching, and thinking deeper about social, environmental and biological factors that impact people's lives. Students become engaged through creativity when they can act out their day, inform their classmates in a dramatic way, compare and contrast with different cultures and start thinking about solutions to issues. 

Strategy #4: Alter Ego 

    Alter-Ego is a strategy that is very similar to the concept of the devil and the angel on a person's shoulder. This is usually done in groups of at least 3 students. One person is sitting in a seat contemplating an issue or a dilemma. Because "angel & devil" may be inappropriate concepts to use in the classroom, I would not use this phrasing, but rather use this strategy in order to see the pros and cons of a situation, or 2 opposing views that impact an individuals decisions. The other 2 students will be standing on each side of the person in the seat. For example, in a social studies classroom a students may be deciding on whether or not to go eco friendly. Doing so will help the plant, but it also means making sacrifices and can be difficult to do at times.  In this dilemma, one student would sit on the chair, while one student would take the "yes! go eco friendly" position while other student will take the "no! Dont go eco friendly" position. Make it clear to your students what the "right" decisions is for the overall wellbeing of the student, but allow the student to research and discover the various factors that impact ones decisions. This strategy visually demonstrates the internal battle people face when making decisions.

Connection to curriculum: When applied to a group of people or population that is impacted by an environmental issue students will be able to better understand the real life influences through the day in a life activities. 

 

GRADE 7 ARTS: 

Drama B1.1- Engage actively in drama exploration and role play with a focus on examining multiple perspectives related to current issues, themes and relationships from a wide variety of sources and diverse communities. 

GRADE 7 GEOGRAPHY:

Choose an environmental issue that illustrates one of the themes of geographic inquiry (e.g., location/place, region) and explain why various individuals and groups have different opinions on the issue.

Critical Positioning Theory

The Critical Positioning Theory was developed by Davies and Harré (1990). It includes 2 forms of writing one's identity:

1. Stable Identity: Assumed roles and multiple perspectives of how people interact in different types of relationships. Changes are viewed over a long period of time - things that might change over a lifetime.

2. Flexible Identity: Changes are viewed day to day. Factors of identity that are easy to change due to change of mind, attitude, belief, etc. of an individual.

Theory & Reflection 

While acknowledging the fluid identity of people, positioning theory also recognizes that people are not blank slates who change subject positions whenever the situation changes. Instead it is the opposite. For instance, as a teacher, my biographically embedded beliefs about teaching and learning are an important resource I draw on to adopt positions. Our development is a consequence of social interaction, which is in turn shaped by the biographical, organizational, institutional, and social context. When students are able to gain an understanding of their own identities both stable and flexible, they are able to explore various perspectives in the same lens. Additionally as teachers we can use critical positioning theory to help us understand more about our students' identities, in order to heighten our success in areas of classroom management, assessment, accommodations and modifications. 

References 

Rose, S. Dale, Michaela Parks, Karl Androes, and Susan D. McMahon . (2000). "Imagery-Based Learning: Improving Elementary Student' Reading Comprehension With Drama Techniques. " The Journal of Educational Research. 94 (1): 55-63.