Two studies investigated the effect of a short improvisation intervention (theatrical improvisation in Study 1, musical improvisation in Study 2) on negotiation processes and outcomes. The expectation was that an improvisation exercise, compared to a control condition in which participants engaged in jigsaw puzzling, would result in better…

Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island, including what is known as Canada, have experienced the traumatic effects of colonisation that have deeply impacted the ability to share language and culture with younger generations. While funding and who it is from is an ongoing struggle for many arts-based practitioners, it is particularly problematic in…

The priority of promoting children's creativity and democracy in education, which includes values such as freedom of expression, competence, respect for diversity, empathy, collaboration, dialogue and the development of critical thinking and curiosity, is strongly supported by communities of practice that foster these values and promote heuristic…

A drama educator and a high school English language arts teacher use drama-based pedagogy to promote criticality and joy in a literature unit on Nella Larsen's "Passing."

This article offers a descriptive case study of an ongoing community-engaged dialogic learning experience that emphasizes human connection and the evolution of self-narratives within criminal justice contexts. The course in question, Performing History/Autobiography in Progress, is facilitated online as a variation of the Inside-Out Prison…

Achieving the recommendations of TfD action plans for community-based solutions to rural community problems require follow-up, monitoring, and evaluation which are "nearly absent" or ineffective in University-based TfD projects in Nigeria (Akoh 2019). Our observation during a 2022 Ofabo TfD project is that if songs used in such TfD…

This reflective account looks back on 'Performance, Positionality, and Witnessing,' a course taught in Summer 2022, which engaged various Filipinx Canadian performance texts. The course encapsulated an experience in teaching performativity while also introducing students to the notion of witnessing -- that is, being cognisant of their…

This essay analyzes student experiences of studying all-female and non-binary cast Shakespeare productions in the Seattle area, including upstart crow collective's "Richard III" and The Fern Shakespeare Company's "Much Ado About Nothing." I draw on my teaching of the experimental work of these regional companies in an…

The first years of the 20th century saw an intriguing partnership between two high-profile figures in elementary education. Between them they offered a tantalising progressive vision for primary schooling. Harriet Johnson gained followers for Sompting School as far away as the USA and Japan, and the chief inspector of elementary schools, Edmond…

This essay proposes that it is time to redesign educational curricula to take account of recent discoveries in the neuroscience of the human brain. The identification of mirror neurons has drawn attention to the importance of empathy as a determiner of action and their function is replicated in communication between actors, characters, and…

This article analyses approaches to listening when creating theatre using the words of real people via a recent tribunal play by Richard Norton-Taylor and Nicolas Kent, "Value Engineering: Scenes from the Grenfell Inquiry" (2021). The article considers the play in relation to transitional justice practices to reveal how listening…

Theater uses drama and conflict to stimulate audience's emotions taking advantage of the fact that emotions can trigger people to achieve a desired learning result. Creating a theatrical learning environment enables learners to actively participate in knowledge creation in an entertaining environment. In this paper, I will use a conference session…

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the relationship between social skills and dramatic arts. In an effort to explore and eventually eradicate the negative problems plaguing today's generation, this study sought to question youth who may have grappled with social and communicative problems during their matriculation in…

This paper uses the concept of powerful knowledge to consider the teaching of canonical literature in the secondary English classroom. Drawing on Muller and Young's definition of powerful knowledge which draws on "potentia" rather than "potestas," a distinction which focuses on the enabling potential, rather than the idea of…

Preschool picturebook read-alouds have the power to capture the attention of young students by providing an immersive experience that stimulates imagination while addressing learning objectives. The instructional strategies or practices that teachers use during picturebook read-alouds impact student engagement with the story and narrative…