Through the use of some purposeful anachronisms, Tom Stoppard uses his 1993 play "Arcadia" to explore the effects on man's psyche of the transition from Newton's Laws to the laws of thermodynamics and from thermodynamics to chaos theory. However, remarkably similar reactions to these changes are also reflected in works from the actual time periods…

This article delineates an archetypal approach to drama in education. Participation in drama draws on both conscious and unconscious imaginative capabilities and involves teacher and student in the bedrock of human reaction. Drama could provide us with valuable information concerning archetypes as they unfold in the lives of our children. (MT)

Play is children's work. Alice Honig enumerates from the heart 10 ways in which children learn through play, including building dexterity; social skills; cognitive and language skills; number and time concepts; spatial understanding; reasoning of cause and effect; clarification of pretend versus real; sensory and aesthetic appreciation; extended…

This article presents an example of a project designed to get children of different ages working together and working for each other. The project relied quite heavily on children creating a dramatic context and the author shows how the dramatic element has the potential to affect their learning in positive ways. The provision of a shared…

Ways to perk up language arts instruction include skits, choral readings, and full-length plays. Ideas for putting a show together, from making the curtain to having a cast party, are covered. Two readings, a skit, and a play are appended. (MT)

The significance of drama as an expressive form of thinking and feeling lies in its concern with the process of personal engagement with the objective world. A Taxonomy of Personal Engagement is offered and strategies and techniques to engage students are suggested. (MT)

Tag games have been described as "Chasing, fleeing, and dodging" type activities. Most "fleeing" activities involve dramatic play, use of movement concepts (such as quick and light), or movement changes without a partner, while many of the chasing and dodging activities utilize dodging concepts between partners or within small groups and are…

The Spolin Theater Games consist of more than 200 games and exercises to encourage spontaneity, creativity, and interpersonal communication in group settings. This article describes the use of Spolin games in four classes of six- to nine-year-old educationally handicapped children and looks at changes that occurred, particularly in the way…

This article describes the teaching method of Dorothy Heathcote, Professor of Drama at the Institute of Education at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. She uses classroom dramas for her classes, letting the children create their own dramatic situations. (JA)

A selection of Christmas plays and skits in Swiss German. (DD)

Ten seasonal plays are presented: (1) September (nutrition); (2) October (Halloween); (3) November (Thanksgiving); (4 and 5) December (Hanukkah, Christmas); (6) January (Martin Luther King, Jr.); (7) February (friendship); (8) March (Saint Patrick's Day); (9) April (Easter); and (10) May/June (Memorial and Flag Days). (CJ)

Research Findings: This article is based on the premise that the field of early childhood education needs to begin to study the details of teacher-child interaction if it is to understand fully what aspects of classrooms foster development and to create effective professional development interventions. To this end, we report analyses of four Head…

Learning through play is as natural and important for young children as breathing. With this book, parents and teachers can create toys that help children become more confident, develop their intellect, and encourage play and exploration--all with materials easily found at the local hardware store or home center. Written by two experienced family…