Teaching and learning through drama: stages of engagement in the dramatic presentation of experience

Abstract

This study looks at the nature of the children's engagement in the dramatic activities. It identifies seven stages of engagement in the dramatic presentation of experience. These stages have a conceptual as well as an empirical basis. In order to provide a conceptual basis for the stages the study examines the processes by which the children manage to make meaning in everyday contexts. It relates the ways in which the everyday contexts are created and presented to the ways in which the dramatic contexts are created and presented and shows that they differ only in the way they are treated by people. It also examines the nature of the engagement in the dramatic activity and draws upon the connection between drama and theatre art, and drama and play. It shows that engagement in the drama has its basis in the children's play and in the art form of drama (in the application of dramatic form). It also shows that the learning opportunities that the dramatic engagement opens up for the children are related to the teacher's role in the drama and also to the children's play. The empirical basis for the stages is defined through the analysis of the teachers' and the children's engagement in drama situations and through dramatic activities in which the teacher and the children routinely engage when they do drama. Finally, the study looks at the implications of the stages and the way these can be used to help the teachers develop their knowledge and confidence about drama, plan their work with the children and provide a framework for the evaluation of dramatic engagements.