Blending Creativity, Science and Drama

Blending the arts into students’ learning of science concepts through role-play and drama is unusual pedagogy in schools. For seven Australian Year Five students seeking extended learning, advanced scientific concepts were learned during the creative process of script writing and production of a science play called Hectic Electric. A mentor and two parents were involved in the students’ learning and the script creation processes. The script was transformed into a dramatic play involving other members of the class and submitted for a science drama competition. The play was awarded the winning prize in the primary school section. Based on this situation, this study indicated that by providing the initial ‘thinking activation’ and promoting self-efficacy in the students, they were able to draw on and further develop their communicative, creative and higher order thinking skills in bringing abstract science concepts to a more concrete and visual form leading to a novel outcome.