Exploring Curriculum: Performative Inquiry, Role D

This book invites teachers and students to experience the learning that becomes possible when exploring the curriculum through performative inquiry.

Through performative inquiry, teachers and their students can together explore new worlds, new possibilities, and new responsibilities within the curriculum and within their lives. Performative inquiry brings drama into the classroom to encourage creative and critical thinking, collaboration, research, and reflection that deepens subject understanding as well as strengthens integrated learning between subject areas.

This is a book for teachers, pre-service teachers, teacher educators, and curriculum developers who want to enliven learning and bring excitement to their teaching.

The authors present six classroom-tested role dramas that teachers can use or adapt for their classrooms. In addition, the authors build a solid theoretical framework for using performative inquiry by examining learning and curricular theory. They delve into educational research to show how drama and other arts activities are effective strategies for learning across the curriculum. Finally, a substantial assessment section along with instructions explaining how teachers can create their own role dramas provides additional tools and strengthens the motivation to introduce performative inquiry as an exciting, enlightening, and meaningful learning experience for students.

Dr. Lynn Fels is Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University and Academic Editor of Educational Insights. Dr. George Belliveau is Associate Professor of Theatre Education at the University of British Columbia and has worked on over 50 theatre productions as an actor or director. They have both led numerous workshops with teachers and students of all ages on using drama in the classroom and their work and research has been widely published.