LEARNING CHEMISTRY WITH DRAMA
Contributed by Marzena Kastyak-Ibrahim, Chemistry
I use: drama (role playing)
The purpose is: to engage students, give them an opportunity to discover by themselves and think, to help
students to understand abstract concepts, to create a friendly learning environment and have fun
(teacher included)!
My rationale: is based on trial and error.
My strategy: is to use role playing as a way of understanding basic chemical processes like oxidation.
The first trial is the most challenging. Once students know that it will be “safe” and fun to volunteer, this method becomes very
effective and gives good results in keeping student engaged in learning.
1.
Start with something simple involving 2-3 students.
Example: Concept of oxidizing agent.
 Prepare five paper balls.
 Find two volunteers; let them tell class their names (e.g. Kate and John).
 Give Kate three paper balls and John two.
 Explain that Kate and John are atoms and paper balls are electrons.
 Ask both volunteers to tell the class how many paper balls (electrons) they have.
 Ask John to take two paper balls from Kathy.
 Ask class what happened.
 Ask them how many electrons Kate and John have.
 Ask them what happened to Kate? When they say that she has lost 2 electrons explain that when an atom loses
electrons, it becomes more oxidized.
 Ask why Jane is oxidized. They should tell you that John took her electrons and oxidize her. Tell them that from now
you will call John an oxidizing agent, because he oxidized Kate.
 You can do similar activity with giving electrons to explain the concept of reducing agent and redox reaction.
 Thank Kate and John for their help.
2.
You can use more volunteers next time. Two weeks ago 16 of my students participated in a very simple drama.
Example: Introducing the concept of β-oxidation (degradation) of fatty acid.
 Students have difficulty in understanding how many times the process of β-oxidation (removing two carbons at the
time) shall be repeated in order to oxidize a 16 carbons fatty acid. Ask them how many times the process of
removing 2 carbons at the time shall be repeated in order to `cut` 16 carbons fatty acid into two-carbons fragments
(you would hear 8 and if you are lucky someone would say 7). Ask them to vote and tell them that they will know the
answer soon.
 Ask 16 volunteers to stand in the front of the class and hold their hands.
 Explain that they are 16 carbons forming a fatty acid.
 You will ask two student `fragment` to separate from the fatty acid. Class is asked to count how many times two
student fragment leaves. They count aloud.
 They will come to know that 7 not 8 rounds is needed.
It worked for my students. During following class they answered my question correctly without any doubts.
3.
You can use it for as many volunteers as you wish for any example you could think about.
Limitations: It does take more time than lecturing, so decreases the amount of content that can be covered. But it fosters
deep learning.