'Why study the arts at school?' This book offers a fresh perspective on this question. Informed by rigorous research, the book argues that the arts help young people to develop key skills, knowledge and practices that support them to become both critical appreciative audiences and socially engaged cultural producers. Drawing on a three-year study…

STEAM education can be described in two ways. One model emphasizes the arts and is not as concerned about the accuracy of the STEM fields. In the second model, STEM content is the prevailing force with a focus on accuracy, and the arts are used in limited and secondary resources for the teaching of the content. However, in order to promote…

This book exemplifies the challenges and successes of online learning, teaching and leading in times of crises. It helps shed light on the issues facing online and face-to-face practitioners having to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic and continue education within the confines of a specific interface. The volume includes new research and…

The current education climate has brought the development of classroom drama as an art form to a standstill. Practitioners need to make a qualitative leap forward in both theory and practice in order to respond to the cultural demands of the times. By linking the best of the ground-breaking work of Dorothy Heathcote and Gavin Bolton with the…

Over the last two decades drama pedagogy has helped to lay the foundations for a new teaching and learning culture, one that accentuates physicality and centres on performative experience. Signs of this 'performative turn' in education are especially strong in the field of foreign/second language teaching. This volume introduces scholars, language…

For over 40 years, Gavin Bolton has been a leading figure in Drama in Education. His publications cover all aspects of young people's educational drama and this selection of his key writings provides insight into the major areas of his theory and practice, namely: (1) modes of involvement in drama; (2) drama as an art form; (3) the role of…

Children's theatre in the UK is thriving. Debates about why children should watch theatre and what educational, emotional and expressive benefits it can provide inform cultural policy on education. Children aged 4-11 are increasingly taken to watch tailored theatre performances, yet there has been virtually no reflective research on what theatre…

This timely book uncovers all of the processes that should be considered when high-quality teacher education is designed, delivered and studied around the world. Written by experienced teacher educators, this book shows what critical practice is and how it can be used to facilitate a deeper understanding of practice that draws upon personal…

This guide presents a technique for actors for getting into character spontaneously. Certain sections of the book address the actor, others address the director, and some make no distinction. The actor-director relationship is addressed as complex and critical to this acting approach. Suggestions are given for using this approach with children.…

Unlike traditional Readers Theatre, which is typically limited to literature-based scripts, Curriculum-Based Readers Theatre (CBRT) allows teachers and students to create scripts based on any topic, any work of literature, any textbook, or almost any collection of facts. It can be easily incorporated into the existing curriculum, and because this…

This collection presents techniques for tapping a broad range of literary sources to inspire young writers. Drawing upon poetry, folk tales, story jokes, and more, Literary Ideas walks students in grades 3-8 through the process of creating new stories and developing them as scripts for choral readings, readers theatre, and classroom plays. The…

Ten readers theatre scripts based on some of the most famous, sensational trials in U.S. history provide a fascinating glimpse into our past and our justice system. These compelling dramas are based on actual trial proceedings, and have been adapted to the interest and reading level of students in upper elementary and middle school. Details of the…

Based on the idea that the focus of theater is human beings and thus that theater can be related to experiences already familiar to students, this book aims to provide both instructors and students with informative, incisive, and pleasurable knowledge about the theater. The book is divided into 6 parts and subdivided into chapters within each…

In this book, the author has adapted 25 folktales from across Asia for whole classroom use. Every student in the class will participate in telling these tales. The number of students in the class divides the stories. Using large poster board students illustrate their portion of the story and then present the story in grade level concerts.…

This article proposes an approach to teaching and learning in the university arts sector that is able to accommodate and assess creative process alongside practice. In arguing thus, romanticized notions of "the spontaneous artist" are exposed to scrutiny, and the creative process itself is made subject to analysis. Notwithstanding its focus on the…