TY - JOUR
T1 - Drama and environment
T2 - Joining forces to engage children and young people in environmental education
AU - Curtis, David J.
AU - Howden, Mark
AU - Curtis, Fran
AU - McColm, Ian
AU - Scrine, Juliet
AU - Blomfield, Thor
AU - Reeve, Ian
AU - Ryan, Tara
PY - 2013/12
Y1 - 2013/12
N2 - Engaging and exciting students about the environment remains a challenge in contemporary society, even while objective measures show the rapid state of the world's environment declining. To illuminate the integration of drama and environmental education as a means of engaging students in environmental issues, the work of performance companies Evergreen Theatre, Leapfish and Eaton Gorge Theatre Company, the ecological oratorio Plague and the Moonflower, and a school-based trial of play-building were examined through survey data and participant observations. These case studies employed drama in different ways - theatre-in-education, play-building, and large-scale performance event. The four case studies provide quantitative and qualitative evidence for drama-based activities leading to an improvement in knowledge about the environment and understandings about the consequences of one's actions. In observing and participating in these case studies, we reflect that drama is a means of synthesising and presenting scientific research in ways that are creative and multi-layered, and which excite students, helping maintain their attention and facilitating their engagement.
AB - Engaging and exciting students about the environment remains a challenge in contemporary society, even while objective measures show the rapid state of the world's environment declining. To illuminate the integration of drama and environmental education as a means of engaging students in environmental issues, the work of performance companies Evergreen Theatre, Leapfish and Eaton Gorge Theatre Company, the ecological oratorio Plague and the Moonflower, and a school-based trial of play-building were examined through survey data and participant observations. These case studies employed drama in different ways - theatre-in-education, play-building, and large-scale performance event. The four case studies provide quantitative and qualitative evidence for drama-based activities leading to an improvement in knowledge about the environment and understandings about the consequences of one's actions. In observing and participating in these case studies, we reflect that drama is a means of synthesising and presenting scientific research in ways that are creative and multi-layered, and which excite students, helping maintain their attention and facilitating their engagement.
KW - drama
KW - environmental attitudes
KW - environmental behaviour
KW - environmental education
KW - environmental knowledge
KW - student engagement
KW - theatre
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84902076594&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/aee.2014.5
DO - 10.1017/aee.2014.5
M3 - Article
SN - 0814-0626
VL - 29
SP - 182
EP - 201
JO - Australian Journal of Environmental Education
JF - Australian Journal of Environmental Education
IS - 2
ER -