Science through Drama: A multiple case exploration of the characteristics of drama activities used in secondary science lessons

Abstract

Over 20 years of research into the use of cross‐curricular drama in secondary science has indicated that this medium enables learning of affective, cognitive and procedural knowledge. To date, academic research has tended to frame successful drama pedagogy as resulting from a Drama‐in‐Education approach, incorporating extended role plays and simulations of social events. By contrast, research has rarely focused on the scope and context of drama which is devised and used by real people in real situations. Indications from non‐academic literature and informal education practice suggest that there is a gap in our knowledge between research and classroom practice. This study focused on teachers’ own drama activities in five science lessons taught across schools in Cambridge, Kent, and Hertfordshire. Their classes spanned the ages of 12–16 in the subjects of chemistry, biology, and physics. This study explored the drama forms, teaching objectives, and characteristics by which drama was perceived to enable learning in Science. The findings revealed that drama activities were used to convey a variety of topics that have not yet been recorded in academic literature, and revealed a greater scope for the teaching abstract scientific concepts through mime and role play. These activities were perceived to develop students’ visualisation through a range of modalities, which included embodied sensation and anthropomorphic metaphors. Some features reflected the development of thought experiment skills. A pedagogic model was produced based on different levels of interactive talk and multimodal communication.

Keywords:

• Learning activities
• Model‐based learning
• Science education
• Secondary school
• Visualisation
• Drama
• Role play
• Physical simulation

Notes

1. Measured from the perceptions of the participants involved.

2. The potential for the concept of drama to bias science teachers’ responses was evident in the pilot: in the first pilot interview, I had not hidden the fact that I was drama‐trained and that I was exploring the use of drama; This seemed to cause the teacher some stress, as evident in her responses.