Making Learning Meaningful with Drama

     As I participate in some of the final classes in my Drama education I feel it would be important to reflect on how Drama can be used to enrich the learning of other subject areas. I discussed in one of my earlier posts how I saw Drama being used to teach subjects like Language Arts or Social Studies, but most do not think about how it can be used for subjects like Science. Often teachers use this course to improve their students' logical thinking and reasoning, but it can also be a chance to creatively express themselves. Here I will discuss some of the activities we did in class that demonstrates this and some of the resources I have found for great ideas.

     One activity that we did in class that could help students in Science was when we were given an organ that is part of the digestive system and create actions to match that organ. For instance, I got the Gallbladder as part of the digestive system and I had to think about how I could create an action and sound that would symbolize the role that organ has in the system. In order to so I had to think about what role that organ plays in the system, showing me the meaningful learning that can happen in this activity for students learning about the human body. Also, with my classmates I had to determine where I would be in terms of the order of the organ system where students would have to think about how all the organs work together to break down food in our bodies.

     In order to find out more about how Science can be learned through Drama I began searching for resources with lists of Drama activities that can make Science come alive. Below are some links to resources which show how Drama can illustrate scientific concepts where students have to draw on what they know and then act it out. Or students have to use actions to demonstrate models or things we observe through Science. These resources have been integral in showing me how Drama can enrich a Science program giving students to the chance to think deeply about what they are learning while expressing themselves creatively.

http://thescienceteacher.co.uk/teaching-science-through-drama/

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