To Act, Or Not To Act?
Drama In The Classroom
Lauren E. Duerson
ED-7201
Fall 2011
Table of Contents
 Statement of the Problem
 Review Of Literature
 The Pros
 The Cons
 Educational Theorists
 Current Implementation
 Hypothesis Statement
 Resources
Statement of the Problem
 Economic recessions create widespread budget cutbacks that greatly
effect the public school system. As a result, job retention and hiring
consists of multi-subject and special needs teachers verses those
who specialize in the arts such as drama.
 No Child Left Behind Act legislation has created a focus on math and
literacy achievement in the United States of America with a goal of
general and mass achievement by 2014.
 Testing is the determining factor in student and teacher success.
Therefore teachers and administrators are forced to teach to the test
with a focus placed on math, science, and literacy. This means that
social studies and the arts are not covered in classrooms in the same
detail as the other subjects, if at all.
Review Of Literature
The Pros
 Drama improves the cognitive ability to remember, therefore, by acting
in a story or history’s dramatization, children retain and understand
more of the story’s concepts and content. (George. 2000)
 Drama improves personal self-confidence for teachers and students.
Drama improves social skills between peers and creates
communication with teachers and students. Drama can improve
physical and emotional abilities through expression and movement.
(George. 2000)
 Drama encourages children to question material, create images,
determine the importance of details found in the texts, and encourages
further inference and synthesis of reading. (Rosler. 2008)
Review Of Literature
The Pros
 The arts, such as drama allow children to participate through
movement, which is crucial for non-native speaker participation.
(Ulbricht. 2011)
Review Of Literature
The Cons
 No Child Left Behind Act counts three subjects as ‘core’ subjects,
therefore there is no balance between the arts and tested
curriculums. Tested subjects always win attention over non-tested.
(Chapman. 2005)
 Instructional time is taken away from the subjects that students are
tested on when teacher focus on social studies and the arts. If test
scores drop in other tested curriculum areas, teachers are
scrutinized. (Wills. 2007)
 Some teachers are uncomfortable or unfamiliar with the arts
processes, curriculum, and standards, therefore they do not wish to
teach learning through dramatic practices. (Stanfa, O Shea. 1998)
 Dramatic presentation and implementation (as well as action
research) in the classroom can take more preparation than other
subjects of the curriculum. (Sanders. 2006)
Educational Theorists
 Lev Vygotsky:
 Social interaction plays a large role in cognitive development.
Only once social interaction has occurred can an individual
understand on a personal level.
 Teachers should collaborate with the students to help facilitate
meaning and learning.
 Howard Gardner:
 Multiple intelligences includes bodily-kinesthetic intelligence,
where entire body is used to solve problems in the process of
learning.
 Interpersonal and Intrapersonal intelligence, which includes
understanding one’s own motivations and the motivations of
others in the process of learning.
Current Implementation
 Margaret Goodnow- Has students choose a civilization
in order to create a play. ‘The Golden Apple’ was
utilized to socially have students find cooperative
solutions to problems while learning about other
cultures and historic peoples.
 Brenda Rosler- Fifth-grade teacher in an urban
community found that drama infused lesson plans unite
classes, and create leaders in social studies learning.
Hypothesis
By integrating dramatic roleplaying activities within social
studies lessons over a sixweek period of time to
twenty-eight students at
Public School X in Brooklyn,
New York, students will
increase test scores in the
social sciences curriculum.
Resources

Chapman, L. (2005). No child left behind in art? Art Education. 58(1). 6-16.

George, N. J. (2000). Beneficial use of dramatics in the classroom. The New England Reading Association.
36(2), 6-10.

Goodnow, M. (2004). Bringing history to life in the elementary classroom. Montessori Life. 16(3). 34-35.

Lynch, P. (2007). Making meaning many ways: an exploratory look at integrating the arts with classroom
curriculum. Art Education. 60(4). 33-38.

O’Donoghue, D. (2009). Are we asking the wrong questions in arts-based research? Studies In Art Education.
50(4), 352-268.

O Shea, D. J. & Stanfa, K. (1998). The play’s the thing for reading comprehension. Teaching Exceptional
Children. 31(2), 48-55.

Rosler, B. (2008). Process drama in one fifth-grade social studies class. The Social Studies (Washington
D.C.). 99(6), 265-272.

Sanders, J. H. (2006). Performing arts-based education research: an epic drama of practice, precursors,
problems, and possibilities. Studies In Art Education, 48(1), 89-107.
Resources

Ulbricht, J. (2011). Changing art education’s master narrative. Art Education. 64(3). 6-10.

Wills, J. S. (2007). Putting the squeeze on social studies: managing teaching dilemmas in subject areas
excluded from state testing. The New England Reading Association. 36(2), 6-10.
Websites

Howard Gardner: Multiple Intelligences and Education
Retrieved October 10, 2011. http://www.infed.org/thinkers/gardner.htm

Vygotsky’s Social Development Theory
Retrieved October 10, 2011. http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html