Drama Boreale - Åbo Akademi

4. Three viewpoints on educational drama
Erkki Laakso
Abstract
The aim of this article is to tell what student teachers experienced during five workshops
of process drama, describe what kind of learning took place, and convey the central
principles concerning adult experiential learning seen from the perspective of drama
teacher. The basic idea is to illuminate these three areas and convey better
understanding of these for drama practicians. The structure follows these areas in order.
The basic sources are the doctoral thesis of the writer, Encountering drama experiences.
The learning potential of process drama in the light of student teachers experiences
(2004, fin), categories of learning described by Eklund-Myrskog (1996) and Adult
experiential learning (Malinen 2000). Process drama proved to be a rich working
method offering diverse and very individual experiences. Learning in process drama
represent broadly-based learning. Drama teachers should be aware of the
epistemological, existential, ethical and temporal dimension of process drama. This is
what I’ve been missing! Drama generates feelings, experience, LEARNING ABOUT
THESE THINGS!
This article is based on my doctoral thesis: Encountering drama experiences. The
learning potential of process drama in the light of student teachers experiences (2004). In
this article I will concentrate on three viewpoints closely related to my research. These
are: the area of students’ experiences, the learning potential of educational drama and the
dimensions of adult experiential learning. I feel these things remarkable. At the end I
present a figure, which is illustrating the learning potential of process drama transferred
to practical situations.
Aim of the study and the concept of experience
The central aim of the research was to throw light on what student teachers experience in
drama sessions during a basic course in educational drama and, on this basis, to arrive at an
understanding of the learning potential contained in drama work. Learning potential refers to
those learning opportunities that drama work offered. More detailed discussion of this
concept is found from the following writers (Braanaas 1988, 184; Neelands & Goode 2000,
97; Sæbo, 1998, 419; Østern 1994b, 141;).
If the starting point is the idea, that the experience of the students is attainable through
their diary entries, then it is a question of simplifying the experience. According to
Perttula, “the fact that in psychological research the experience is the object of reduction,
in practice means that irrespective of the description given by whoever is being studied
the researcher regards it as such as research data and the focus of study. Even if the
researcher is aware that the subject’s description is in one way or another distorted or
improbable, at the analysis stage the researcher must regard the subject’s description as
an expression of his or her experience and therefore as research data.(Perttula 1995, 44).
Research method
For the purposes of the study, five drama sessions were implemented. The selected
themes were: Goal, Consensus, Outsider (1-2) and Bullying. The conclusion of each
session involved students writing a diary (10 min.) about their drama experiences. The
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