ERIC Number: EJ878513
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010
Pages: 6
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1056-0300
EISSN: N/A
Learning through Process Drama in the First Grade
Barnes, Mary Kathleen; Johnson, Edric C.; Neff, Lois
Social Studies and the Young Learner, v22 n4 p19-24 Mar-Apr 2010
A teaching team of three teachers aims to prepare students for 21st Century Learning Outcomes, which includes critical thinking, problem solving, and communication skills. Yet classroom experience has taught them that one of the most difficult aspects of teaching young children is that they have few experiences or prior knowledge to make sense of new information. The teachers began their journey to explore several economic concepts as well as government, laws, and leadership through imagination and exploration. Specifically, the content of their unit of study included teaching about economic wants, resources, scarcity, choice, goods and services, specialization, division of labor, price, representative government, taxation, and the difference between rules and laws. The teaching team shared an enthusiastic belief in the use of process drama as a means for students to make sense of unfamiliar and complex concepts. In process drama pedagogy, the teacher encourages imagination and makes available a range of learning possibilities. This article describes the various structures or drama "frames" developed for the children to explore the new social studies concepts. A total of 6 hours was allocated for this learning experience, using a two-hour time block for three consecutive days. This provided the students with the necessary time to deeply engage in the issues, discuss the activities in each step, and reflect on what they were learning. (Contains 3 notes.)
Descriptors: Imagination, Economics, Prior Learning, Time Blocks, Grade 1, Learning Experience, Communication Skills, Social Studies, Teaching Methods, Government (Administrative Body), Problem Solving, Drama, Learning Processes
National Council for the Social Studies. 8555 Sixteenth Street #500, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Tel: 800-683-0812; Tel: 301-588-1800: Fax: 301-588-2049; e-mail: membership@ncss.org; Web site: http://www.socialstudies.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education; Grade 1
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A