Abstract-This study has been undertaken using a creative drama in teaching in order to improve the communication and thinking skills for the students of preparatory year students at the Northern Border University. It aimed to measure the differences between the experimental and control groups in skills acquisition among students. The study was conducted on 140 students from both genders (males=70 and females=70). The students were divided into four groups: each has 35 students. The study adopted an experimental approach by observing students' behavior through affecting their communication and thinking skills with using drama. The findings confirmed that using drama in teaching significantly affected on the experimental group than the students of the control group who were taught with traditional methods as the experimental group achieved better results than the control group. Furthermore, the study stressed the possibility of benefiting from the drama in teaching other practical courses at the university level and provided several recommendations in this regard as well.

Theater in education has gained global popularity since its creation. It employs the use of different forms of art to promote teaching and learning in schools. The practice has positively influenced the lives of school-going children. One importance derived from its application is the enhancement of students' communication skills. While the educational theater has received a positive light and adopted in many educational fronts, it has also encountered several challenges that have limited its effectiveness. This paper, therefore, seeks to uncover the reality behind theater application in schools by using SWOT analysis. The paper focuses on Egyptian education and schools as the case study. The questionnaire was implemented as a data survey tool in four Egyptian governorates, which included 186 experts and teachers in the various educational departments. The technique examines a given subject analytically and presents its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. From the analysis results, it is observed that school educational theater enhances learners' self-esteem and promotes self-actualization. Several gaps were also pinpointed, including inadequate training among teachers and substandard content quality in the Egyptian education system and schools. The launching of the 2014-2030 educational strategic plans provided several opportunities for strengthening the effectiveness of educational theater. Possible erosion of students' moral values was among the threats identified when applying theatrics in the teaching and learning processes. The study concluded through its results the challenges facing the educational theater in Egypt, despite the problems of lack of funding, technical capabilities, and real opportunities to activate school activities in the educational field. The results of this study will provide an opportunity for different stakeholders in education to examine the nature of theater practices within their jurisdictions carefully, and hence formulate relevant policies to make the practice better and effective in driving the desired academic outcomes.

Introduction. The universities around the world attach great importance to acquiring self-management skills for students while training at the university. Recent studies have proven that these skills have a major role in the development of human personality and academic competencies. Communication and thinking skills are considered to be one of the most important skills that have become taught and have been included in the curricula in almost all Saudi universities. This process involves both theoretical and practical aspects, aiming to provide the student with the necessary knowledge to deal with the other, to use new technologies, to be able to think positively, and to solve problems.The aim of the present research is to assess the impact of communication and thinking skills formation on the development of self-management skills among male and female students of the preparatory year in Northern Border University (Arar, Saudi Arabia).Methodology and research methods. In the course of the research, the survey method was applied. The survey received responses from 400 students of eight faculties from the Northern Border University (200 male and 200 female students). To draw comparisons between male and female students’ perspectives, the Student’s t-test was used. The research hypotheses were validated, and the obtained data were statistically processed.Results. The survey results indicate that there is a substantial difference in male and female student perspectives regarding the impact of communication and thinking skills. It was found out that male students had a much more positive perspective while considering its impact on self-development, on the development of successful social circles, and the ability to teamwork. On the other hand, according to the female students, the development of communication and thinking skills has a positive impact on problem-solving ability, mental ability, intellectual development, creative thinking, and practical life application or life realism of students.Scientific novelty. The present study confirms the importance of the implication of academic programmes aimed at students’ self-development; as such training programmes allow students to cope with the challenges of the era of technology and remote communication. In addition to training programmes directed to positive thinking in the light of the challenges facing the world such as terrorism, extremist ideology, and racism, this study comes as an important step towards enhancing self-development skills in the field of communication and human reasoning for undergraduate students.Practical significance. The authors formulated the recommendations to reform the system of particular educational services, to improve their quality due to the fastest, synchronous implementation of technological innovations and modern equipment, and to support teachers’ competencies at the proper level. The importance of media education development actualises the creation of academic programmes at universities for the training of qualified teachers in the field of specific education, especially for countries, which do not have the same experience of training, since media education is becoming compulsory in the contemporary world, increasingly affecting the formation of individuals, culture, and society. Several proposals have been made to promote further research in this direction.

Social studies is seen as a more digestible integrated or interdisciplinary subject by the mode at which its contents are drawn from certain numbers of subject disciplines. This study seeks to determine the perceptions of teachers about the concept of integration in social studies curriculum. This descriptive study was carried out with 80 social studies teachers at the junior secondary schools level in Ekiti state, Nigeria. An instrument was used to establish the extent at which the concept of integration is perceived by social studies teachers. The results of the study showed that majority of the social studies teachers are not knowledgeable about the concept of integration, therefore, making its application in the teaching of social studies difficult. The researchers concluded that teachers should be resourceful and innovative in order to make learning more relevant for the benefit of the child being taught in the classroom and the nation as a whole.