Process drama is a method of teaching and learning

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

where both the students and teacher are working in and out of

role A role (also rôle or social role) is a set of connected behaviors, rights, obligations, beliefs, and norms as conceptualized by people in a social situation. It is an expected or free or continuously changing behavior and may have a given indi ...

. As a teaching methodology, process drama developed primarily from the work of

Brian Way Brian Francis Way (September 12, 1923February 23, 2006), was a British theatre practitioner who established Theatre Centre in London, England, in 1953. The company originated the modern concept of theatre for children in an educational context. Bri ...

, Dorothy Heathcote and Gavin Bolton and through the work of other leading

practitioners.

Cecily O'Neill Cecily O’Neill is an international authority on process drama and the arts in education. She works with students, teachers, playwrights, directors, and actors throughout the world, leading drama workshops, speaking at conferences, and carrying ou ...

describes process drama being used to explore a problem, situation, theme or series of related ideas or themes through the use of the artistic medium of unscripted drama. Process drama was described by O'Mara (1999) as" a dynamic way of working that requires teachers to reflect-in-action", constantly dealing with unique situations that require novel approaches. It has its roots in dramatic play, where normally developing children in every

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

in the world will create their own imagined worlds, often with the co-participation of an empathetic adult (usually the parent) in role. Process drama in school settings usually involves the whole class working with the teacher in role in a made-up

scenario In the performing arts, a scenario (, ; ; from Italian , "that which is pinned to the scenery") is a synoptical collage of an event or series of actions and events. In the ''commedia dell'arte'', it was an outline of entrances, exits, and actio ...

. When they are working in process drama, the students and teachers work together to create an imaginary dramatic world within which issues are considered and problems can be solved. In this world they work together to explore problems and issues such as, "How do communities deal with change?", "How do we accept other people into our community?" or themes such as environmental

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

, betrayal, truth and other

ethical Ethics is the philosophical study of moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches include normative ethics, applied e ...

and moral issues. Sometimes the work may begin as light-hearted, but the teacher always layers more dramatic tension and complexity into the work as the teacher is aiming for a

pedagogical Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political, and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken ...

outcome. Students learn to think beyond their own points of view and consider multiple perspectives on a topic through playing different roles. For instance, if the issue being discussed is logging a forest, they may play the

loggers Lumberjack is a mostly North American term for workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees. The term usually refers to loggers in the era before 1945 in the United States, when trees were felled us ...

, people who live in the forest community and

environmentalist Environmentalism is a broad Philosophy of life, philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of Green politics, g ...

s. Playing a range of positions encourages them to be able to recast themselves as the "other" and to consider life from that viewpoint, thereby creating complexity and enabling us to explore multiple dimensions of the topic. Process drama does what the character

Atticus Finch Atticus Finch is a fictional character and the protagonist of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize–winning novel of 1960, ''To Kill a Mockingbird''. A preliminary version of the character also appears in the novel ''Go Set a Watchman'', written in the ...

advocates: the ability to work for

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

comes from the ability to understand another perspective—to be able to try on someone else's shoes and walk around in them for a while. Process drama allows us to "try on" other people's shoes, to walk the paths they tread and to see how the world looks from their point of view. Process drama is also suggested as a tool to promote literacy development in secondary school and through opportunities for dramatic play in early childhood settings within which children speak for a range of purposes in role.Rosler, B. (2010). "Process drama in one social studies classroom." The Social Studies, 99, 265-272.

References

{{reflist Pedagogy Drama