An Unlikely, but effective, pair: Drama and Science

As part of our drama course this semester our group connected 5 drama strategies with the grade 8 science strand on cells (understanding life systems). Our guiding theories were The Learner's Theory (Dwyer, 1996) and The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Dr. Howard Gardner, 1983).

Guiding Theories

The Learner’s Theory (Dwyer, 1996) states that 10% of what children hear they will retain, but 90% of what the teach to themselves and each other they will retain. This is important to keep in mind when planning lessons and activities for students to do. When students say, discuss or “do” an activity they are 70% more likely to understand and retain this information. This is why we have chosen 5 various drama strategies to assist in teaching our science concepts that require students to be active participants. This will ensure students are not only engaged in the lesson, but also grasping the concepts being presented as Dwyer’s theory ensures.

The Theory of Multiple Intelligences was developed by Dr. Howard Gardner in 1983. It suggests that intelligence is more complex and cannot be accurately measured by a traditional IQ test. According to Gardner intelligence can be broken down into different categories which include; linguistics, musical, kinesthetic, logical, spatial, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic. Drama as a school subject has a natural tendency to include the categories of intelligences that are often overlooked. Drama puts an emphasis on kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal and even musical intelligence. Our group has chosen teaching strategies in drama that reflect these categories of intelligence.

Strategies

The following table describes the drama strategies we identified and how they could be used to help consolidate scientific learning, as well as potential modifications that could be made for students with exceptional needs. As eluded to, these activities would be best suited to consolidate student learning, potentially before a test or other summative task.