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Atom surprise: Using theatre in primary science education

Atom surprise: Using theatre in primary science education
Atom surprise: Using theatre in primary science education
Early exposure to science may have a lifelong effect on children’s attitudes towards science and their motivation to learn science in later life. Out-of-class environments can play a significant role in creating favourable attitudes, while contributing to conceptual learning. Educational science theatre is one form of an out-of-class environment, which has received little research attention. This study aims to describe affective and cognitive learning outcomes of watching such a play and to point to connections between theatrical elements and specific outcomes. “Atom Surprise” is a play portraying several concepts on the topic of matter. A mixed methods approach was adopted to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of children (grades 1–6) from two different school settings who watched the play. Data were gathered using questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Analysis suggested that in both schools children’s knowledge on the topic of matter increased after the play with younger children gaining more conceptual knowledge than their older peers. In the public school girls showed greater gains in conceptual knowledge than boys. No significant changes in students’ general attitudes towards science were found, however, students demonstrated positive changes towards science learning. Theatrical elements that seemed to be important in children’s recollection of the play were the narrative, props and stage effects, and characters. In the children’s memory, science was intertwined with the theatrical elements. Nonetheless, children could distinguish well between scientific facts and the fictive narrative.
1059-0145
508-524
Peleg, Ran
99135615-235e-4bd3-a58e-12bab19fdd8c
Baram-tsabari, Ayelet
405352f6-5c66-4f87-abc0-45f47b75236c
Peleg, Ran
99135615-235e-4bd3-a58e-12bab19fdd8c
Baram-tsabari, Ayelet
405352f6-5c66-4f87-abc0-45f47b75236c

Peleg, Ran and Baram-tsabari, Ayelet (2011) Atom surprise: Using theatre in primary science education. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20 (5), 508-524. (doi:10.1007/s10956-011-9299-y).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Early exposure to science may have a lifelong effect on children’s attitudes towards science and their motivation to learn science in later life. Out-of-class environments can play a significant role in creating favourable attitudes, while contributing to conceptual learning. Educational science theatre is one form of an out-of-class environment, which has received little research attention. This study aims to describe affective and cognitive learning outcomes of watching such a play and to point to connections between theatrical elements and specific outcomes. “Atom Surprise” is a play portraying several concepts on the topic of matter. A mixed methods approach was adopted to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of children (grades 1–6) from two different school settings who watched the play. Data were gathered using questionnaires and in-depth interviews. Analysis suggested that in both schools children’s knowledge on the topic of matter increased after the play with younger children gaining more conceptual knowledge than their older peers. In the public school girls showed greater gains in conceptual knowledge than boys. No significant changes in students’ general attitudes towards science were found, however, students demonstrated positive changes towards science learning. Theatrical elements that seemed to be important in children’s recollection of the play were the narrative, props and stage effects, and characters. In the children’s memory, science was intertwined with the theatrical elements. Nonetheless, children could distinguish well between scientific facts and the fictive narrative.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 13 April 2011
Published date: 1 October 2011

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 435382
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/435382
ISSN: 1059-0145
PURE UUID: bb153ea4-2298-428d-bedc-b42e585e28d5
ORCID for Ran Peleg: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-9184-6030

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Date deposited: 01 Nov 2019 17:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 03:58

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Contributors

Author: Ran Peleg ORCID iD
Author: Ayelet Baram-tsabari

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