Evaluation of the Educational Drama as an Innovative Method to be Adopted by Teachers in Order to Enhance Critical Thinking Skills of Students in Primary School

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine and determine the extent to which educational drama, as an innovative teaching approach, can cultivate critical thinking of students in primary school. Based on the principles of educational drama, 15 theatrical workshops were designed in relation with and corresponding to the culture and interests of the specific age group. The experimental method that was followed, was designed and implemented in three discrete stages including: the pre-research stage, the main research stage and the results extraction stage. The sample comprising 400 students aged 8-10 has been drawn from six different primary schools in Greece, the subjects of which were randomly selected. Five critical thinking skills were studied, including subtraction, induction, observation, reliability, detection and troubleshooting skills. The qualitative and quantitative data collected was next triangulated in order to lead to the desired result. The results confirmed the main research hypothesis, hence educational drama, as an innovative method, can enhance students' critical thinking in primary school.

Research Gaps and Future Trends in Educational Media and Educational Theater Research: Analytical Study in Scopus and Web of Science Databases

“…Though there are forms like open discussion portals in social media which support the academic performance of students, due to lack of motivation among students or absence of professionalism, the tool still lacks in contributing towards learning (Lau, 2017). Though educational departments across the world like in Australia, the UK, or Germany are aware of the educational media effect on students still the absence of an optimized approach, lack of national or international guidelines, and low level of distance learning supporting technologies tend to create learning gap and reduce educational media effectiveness (Dwumah et al, 2021;Grewenig et al, 2021;Kwon et al, 2020). Thus, in the Scopus database, despite having the advancement in educational media and its identification in the digitalized world to be a source of enhancing the learning experience, the lack of exploration of its implementation by institutions empirically across the world for higher education especially prevented the specialization of universities and departments.…”

“…The modernization need for learning methods is rising with the movement of economies towards the era of information, technology, and communication (Dima et al, 2020). However, this adaptation to new learning mechanisms began in the 19 th century wherein art has been introduced in the European curriculum.…”

“…Thus, their judgment ability to distinguish between correct or wrong learning is not enough. With the presence of educational media, students could reach complicated information on the internet which sometimes due to lack of guidance results in developing incorrect views and bad habits (Dima et al, 2020).…”

“…Further, technological advancements in the education sector help students in learning in a quicker form, organizing the learning process more effectively, and developing communication. Academic staff who earlier were not able to provide more advanced information due to limited reach and knowledge could with the digitalized educational system have universal development in teaching (Dima et al, 2020).…”

Drama Education Through Storytelling Strategy Develops Students’ Critical Thinking Skills

“…One of the skills of critical thinking is the ability to evaluate a source of information and identify it as either true or false. Therefore, the skill of reliability exists when the student can evaluate and ensure the reliability of a particular data source and this in turn can lead to the specification of the correct solution to a problem that arises (Dima et al, 2020).…”