Electric drama to improv e

ABSTRACTStudents find the abstract ideas in the physicalsciences difficult and they may have persistentmisconceptions. One way of improvingunderstanding is to use active, creativeapproaches in teaching. Drama is one example.This article describes three improvisations usedby undergraduate primary teacher trainees. Theirpresentations have been analysed and thetrainees questioned. The findings show thatdrama helps them to explain abstract ideas andthat they value this approach to learning science.A case is made for the use of drama generally inteaching science in schools and colleges and alist of requirements to encourage this is provided. Science is often seen as hard to understand becausemany of its core ideas are abstract. Teachers usepractical work as a way in but the links betweenexperimentalobservations andconcepts oftendemandcomplex, logical reasoning, so defeating the primaryobjective:improvedaccess to understanding.Theareaof electricity seems to be particularly difficult and asignificant body of research now exists to show thatstudents and pupils have many and very persistentideas that are at odds with the science taught (Driver,Squires, Rushworth and Wood-Robinson, 1994).Active learning strategies have been suggested asa powerful way of developing understanding inscience, principally because the learners have highlevels of engagement with ideas, often throughimprovedcollaboration withother learners.One suchstrategy is the use of drama.The study reported here considers the drama usedby student teachers onaprimary initial teacher training(ITT) course. The general approach has beendevelopedfromanumber ofin-service trainingcoursesused with science teachers fromprimary and secondaryschools and sois applicable tomost ages.The specificcontexts and activities described here for teachingabout electricity,however,aremoreappropriate to the14–19 age range.