Drama in our Curriculum
"Tell me and I will FORGET.
Show me and I will REMEMBER.
Involve me and I will UNDERSTAND".
Chinese Proverb
Show me and I will REMEMBER.
Involve me and I will UNDERSTAND".
Chinese Proverb
Engaging and Effective Learning- Best Practice
How do people learn?
Research has found that it is our learning processes and opportunities given, not our intelligence, that is the most important factor in determining our abilities - making it vitally important to examine how we teach our students.
So we must ask: how are we most effective at learning and retaining information?
Research has found that it is our learning processes and opportunities given, not our intelligence, that is the most important factor in determining our abilities - making it vitally important to examine how we teach our students.
So we must ask: how are we most effective at learning and retaining information?
Recently, multi-disciplinary learning has become the trend in education, allowing students to make connections between seemingly disparate subjects. Kinaesthetic learning takes this model to the next level by connecting the different ways in which we learn and this process enables a more effective understanding and retention of information.
How do we do THIS in our Classrooms'?
In an already overcrowded curriculum, how do I implement these learning modalities into my classroom practice?
Process Drama Vs Product Based Drama
Drama in our curriculum is a process as opposed to a final product or performance/showcase. The curriculum, although lacking in resources to help provide for such activities, is very much based on 'skills', 'responding' and 'meaning making'.
Making and developing meaning is what Drama seeks to help with in our curriculum. It's activities are to engage, support and enrich the learning of our children, throughout all learning areas.
The emphasis on Performing Arts is NOT about 'acting' or developing budding artists. It is more about exploring ideas, increasing skills and knowledge.
Benefits of integration throughout subject areas include:
HOT Skills are increased
Increases Social and Emotional Well-being skills
Acceptance and trust within self and a group environment
Increased academic results through engagement
Drama in our curriculum is a process as opposed to a final product or performance/showcase. The curriculum, although lacking in resources to help provide for such activities, is very much based on 'skills', 'responding' and 'meaning making'.
Making and developing meaning is what Drama seeks to help with in our curriculum. It's activities are to engage, support and enrich the learning of our children, throughout all learning areas.
The emphasis on Performing Arts is NOT about 'acting' or developing budding artists. It is more about exploring ideas, increasing skills and knowledge.
Benefits of integration throughout subject areas include:
HOT Skills are increased
Increases Social and Emotional Well-being skills
Acceptance and trust within self and a group environment
Increased academic results through engagement
Professional Learning Opportunity
School Drama (TM) @ Winthrop Primary
What is School Drama™?
School Drama™ is a professional learning program for primary school teachers that demonstrates the power of using drama pedagogy with quality literature to improve English and literacy in young learners., specifically primary aged students.
The program was developed by the Sydney Theatre Company over a four-year pilot program from 2009, in partnership with The University of Sydney and leading academic Professors Robyn Ewing and Helem Hristofski (now CEO and executive producer at Barking Gecko Theatre Company.)
The School Drama™ program has fundamentally shifted perceptions of how quality engagement with the arts amplifies children’s learning in a school environment. The program has been involved in extensive research and gained great academic results from students participating in this kinaesthetic based learning program.
School Drama™ is a professional learning program for primary school teachers that demonstrates the power of using drama pedagogy with quality literature to improve English and literacy in young learners., specifically primary aged students.
The program was developed by the Sydney Theatre Company over a four-year pilot program from 2009, in partnership with The University of Sydney and leading academic Professors Robyn Ewing and Helem Hristofski (now CEO and executive producer at Barking Gecko Theatre Company.)
The School Drama™ program has fundamentally shifted perceptions of how quality engagement with the arts amplifies children’s learning in a school environment. The program has been involved in extensive research and gained great academic results from students participating in this kinaesthetic based learning program.
"To be capable, it is to have a mind of many wonders"
This statement is hard to surpass as a definition of capability, in a world in which change is
the only constant. There is a new emphasis in twenty-first century education on the need for
creativity and imagination – for learning to wonder about, as well as to wonder at.
(R.Ewing, 2010)
This statement is hard to surpass as a definition of capability, in a world in which change is
the only constant. There is a new emphasis in twenty-first century education on the need for
creativity and imagination – for learning to wonder about, as well as to wonder at.
(R.Ewing, 2010)
Kinaesthetic Learning
How do people learn? Research has found that it is our learning process, not our intelligence, that is the most important factor in determining our abilities -- making it vitally important to examine how we teach our students. So we must ask: how are we most effective at learning and retaining information?
Is it when we are hearing, seeing, doing, creating, or some combination of the above? Recently, multi-disciplinary learning has become the trend in education, allowing students to make connections between seemingly disparate subjects. Kinaesthetic learning takes this model to the next level by connecting the different ways in which we learn and this process enables a more effective understanding and retention of information.
In kinaesthetic learning, movement and action replace more passive forms of learning, such as listening to a lecture. Everybody has probably experienced the effectiveness of this style of learning. No matter how many years it has been since you learned, most people can still ride a bike and swim across a pool.
I am able to participate in sporting activities/ games that I once knew and I remember the moves to dances I performed when I hear the music. Yet, I can no longer recite the elements in the periodic table -- all information that I had memorised.
No matter how much we memorise, recite, and study, our muscle memory seems to trump our brains alone. We learn best when we combine mind and body. So let's use our bodies to their fullest advantage and bring kinaesthetic learning into our classrooms.
Is it when we are hearing, seeing, doing, creating, or some combination of the above? Recently, multi-disciplinary learning has become the trend in education, allowing students to make connections between seemingly disparate subjects. Kinaesthetic learning takes this model to the next level by connecting the different ways in which we learn and this process enables a more effective understanding and retention of information.
In kinaesthetic learning, movement and action replace more passive forms of learning, such as listening to a lecture. Everybody has probably experienced the effectiveness of this style of learning. No matter how many years it has been since you learned, most people can still ride a bike and swim across a pool.
I am able to participate in sporting activities/ games that I once knew and I remember the moves to dances I performed when I hear the music. Yet, I can no longer recite the elements in the periodic table -- all information that I had memorised.
No matter how much we memorise, recite, and study, our muscle memory seems to trump our brains alone. We learn best when we combine mind and body. So let's use our bodies to their fullest advantage and bring kinaesthetic learning into our classrooms.
Indigenous People and The Arts
Australian Indigenous artforms are the oldest ongoing tradition of creative expression in the world. Initial forms of artistic Aboriginal expression were rock carvings, body painting, ground designs, story telling and dance which date back more than 30,000 years.
The quality and variety of Australian Indigenous art produced today reflects the richness and diversity of Indigenous culture and the distinct differences between tribes, languages, dialects and geographic landscapes. Art or The Arts have always been an important part of Aboriginal life, connecting past and present, the people and the land, and the supernatural and reality.
The Arts have been a part of all Indigenous people around the world and is at the forefront in their education. Song, dance, body decoration, sculpture, painting and story telling are the oldest forms of education.
The quality and variety of Australian Indigenous art produced today reflects the richness and diversity of Indigenous culture and the distinct differences between tribes, languages, dialects and geographic landscapes. Art or The Arts have always been an important part of Aboriginal life, connecting past and present, the people and the land, and the supernatural and reality.
The Arts have been a part of all Indigenous people around the world and is at the forefront in their education. Song, dance, body decoration, sculpture, painting and story telling are the oldest forms of education.
Evidence Based Research
"The Arts as Victims"