One of the main questions regarding Dutch primary education in our secularised and religiously diverse society--both with regards to public and religiously-affiliated schools--is how to get students acquainted with the symbolic language of religious and worldview-affiliated life narratives. Teaching literacy in symbolic language has become less…

The study of current events can take several forms, and the right current event to study as a class depends on the educational purposes, the curricular standards the authors want to address, and the resources they have available to meet them, and what the needs and abilities are of the students present in the class. In this article, they focus on…

Suggests that, from nursery school throughout the elementary years, teachers can encourage children to participate in dramatizations by incorporating dramatic experiences into the classroom context. Provides guidelines for implementing a variety of drama activities--dramatic play, story drama, readers theater, role playing, and other creative…

As a dramatic arts professor's experience shows, children's lack of arts education inhibits their ability to communicate ideas spontaneously, respond with feeling, and discern quality from commercial junk. By contrast, a role-playing/research activity with 15 youngsters helped students express themselves creatively and build community in a…

Provides insights into the benefits of using role playing in the context of cross-grade educational activities. Demonstrates these benefits by giving transcripts of interviews with fifth and sixth graders as well as second and third graders who participated in such activities. (HB)

Dramatic play and role playing are two techniques that can be used to help children understand their feelings about death. (JH)

This paper describes the use of drama with severely socially challenged children, especially children with autistic spectrum disorders. This approach stresses the importance of early make-believe and the use of drama to help children explore social narratives from the inside and thus improve social competence. (Contains references.) (DB)

Presents the results of a pilot study on the possible advantages of utilizing a strategy based on drama and role playing to develop understanding of basic ecological concepts in students aged 7-11. Contains 36 references. (DDR)

Creative drama provides the opportunity for children to experience fantasy and for teachers and children to interact through role playing. (JH)

Discusses an elementary teacher's use of educational skits in history instruction. Describes the preparation of skit scripts. Observes that children who grow up passively watching television need encouragement to become actively involved in learning. Suggests that rehearsing the past may be the best way to prepare for the future. (SG)

Suggests that drama provides an excellent opportunity for children to learn about history, especially children who have not yet reached the formal operational level of development. Describes a program coordinated with a historical museum in which children reenact a school day in 1888. (ARH)

Corrected reprint of an article originally published in Language Arts, volume 66 number 2 (February 1989). See CS 737 385. (MM)

Describes a drama where students play the parts of NASA employees in charge of planning a space mission to one of the planets. (PR)

The primary purpose of this book is to provide a practical working handbook for teachers and therapists. Chapter one is a general discussion of drama, with emphasis on its relevance to therapeutic work. Chapter two offers practical suggestions for starting a therapeutic session and for creating and extending specific environments. Chapter three…

In introducing drama into the elementary classroom it is wise to start by having children portray that which they have experienced. First attempts should be short and simple with later attempts more complex and of longer duration. The first section of this bulletin offers numerous types of preliminary activities. The remainder of the booklet…