The Use of Puppetry and Drama in the Biology Classroom

Beer, Josef de; Petersen, Neal; Brits, Sanette

doi:10.1525/abt.2018.80.3.175

“…Play and drama, as a form of embodied cognition, hold affordances for the realisation of affective outcomes, and this could aid conceptual change. Pintrich, Marx and Boyle (1993) stated that we often only consider cognitive change from a purely cognitive perspective, not taking into consideration that human emotions, worldviews and belief systems influence how conceptual change occurs (De Beer et al 2018). Case-based teaching could therefore be a powerful pedagogy to address the so-called 'apprenticeship of observation' through learning from practice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Work-integrated learning and teaching schools: The University of Johannesburg teaching school experience

Ramsaroop¹,

Petersen²,

Gravett³

2020

NWU Self-Directed Learning Series

1

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Peer review declarationThe publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books'. The manuscript was subjected to a rigorous twostep peer review process prior to publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher and/or authors in question. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the manuscript should be published. Where the reviewers recommended revision and/or improvements to the manuscript, the authors responded adequately to such recommendations. Research justificationThis book disseminates original research on learning in and from practice in pre-service teacher education. Authors such as Lederman and Lederman (2015:670) have described the student teaching practicum or work-integrated learning (WIL), which is an essential component of pre-service teacher education, as the 'elephant in the room'. These authors noted that '… the capstone experience in any teacher education programme is the student teaching practicum … (a)fter all, this is where the rubber hits the road' (Lederman & Lederman 2015:670). However, many teacher educators will agree that this WIL component is sometimes very insufficient in assisting the student teacher to develop an own footing and voice as a teacher. This is the 'gap' that this research book addresses.Most of the chapters in the book report empirical data, with the exception of two chapters, that can be categorised as systematic reviews. Work-integrated learning is addressed from various angles in the chapters. Chapter 6 focusses on research related to what makes Finnish teacher education so effective, and in Chapter 4, researchers of the University of Johannesburg disseminate their findings on establishing a teaching school (based on Finnish insights) in Johannesburg. Chapter 3 highlights the challenges faced in open learning and distance learning teacher education contexts. Several of the chapters disseminate research findings on alternative interventions to classic WIL, namely, where 'safe spaces' or laboratories are created for student teachers to learn and grow professionally. These could either be simulations, such as software programs and avatars in the intervention described in Chapter 2, student excursions, as portrayed in the findings in Chapter 5, Chapter 7 and Chapter 10, or alternative approaches to WIL (e.g. Ch. 11 and Ch. 12).The book is devoted to scholarship in the field of pre-service teacher education. The target audience of this book comprises scholars working in the fields of pre-service teacher education, WIL and self-directed learning.The book makes a unique contribution in terms of firstly its extensive use of cultural-historical activity theory as a research lens, and secondly in drawing on various theoretical frameworks. Both quantitative and qualitative research informed the findings of the book.In accordance with the requirements of the De...

show abstract

“…Play and drama, as a form of embodied cognition, hold affordances for the realisation of affective outcomes, and this could aid conceptual change. Pintrich, Marx and Boyle (1993) stated that we often only consider cognitive change from a purely cognitive perspective, not taking into consideration that human emotions, worldviews and belief systems influence how conceptual change occurs (De Beer et al 2018). Case-based teaching could therefore be a powerful pedagogy to address the so-called 'apprenticeship of observation' through learning from practice.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foreword

Green¹

2020

NWU Self-Directed Learning Series

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Peer review declarationThe publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books'. The manuscript was subjected to a rigorous twostep peer review process prior to publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher and/or authors in question. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the manuscript should be published. Where the reviewers recommended revision and/or improvements to the manuscript, the authors responded adequately to such recommendations. Research justificationThis book disseminates original research on learning in and from practice in pre-service teacher education. Authors such as Lederman and Lederman (2015:670) have described the student teaching practicum or work-integrated learning (WIL), which is an essential component of pre-service teacher education, as the 'elephant in the room'. These authors noted that '… the capstone experience in any teacher education programme is the student teaching practicum … (a)fter all, this is where the rubber hits the road' (Lederman & Lederman 2015:670). However, many teacher educators will agree that this WIL component is sometimes very insufficient in assisting the student teacher to develop an own footing and voice as a teacher. This is the 'gap' that this research book addresses.Most of the chapters in the book report empirical data, with the exception of two chapters, that can be categorised as systematic reviews. Work-integrated learning is addressed from various angles in the chapters. Chapter 6 focusses on research related to what makes Finnish teacher education so effective, and in Chapter 4, researchers of the University of Johannesburg disseminate their findings on establishing a teaching school (based on Finnish insights) in Johannesburg. Chapter 3 highlights the challenges faced in open learning and distance learning teacher education contexts. Several of the chapters disseminate research findings on alternative interventions to classic WIL, namely, where 'safe spaces' or laboratories are created for student teachers to learn and grow professionally. These could either be simulations, such as software programs and avatars in the intervention described in Chapter 2, student excursions, as portrayed in the findings in Chapter 5, Chapter 7 and Chapter 10, or alternative approaches to WIL (e.g. Ch. 11 and Ch. 12).The book is devoted to scholarship in the field of pre-service teacher education. The target audience of this book comprises scholars working in the fields of pre-service teacher education, WIL and self-directed learning.The book makes a unique contribution in terms of firstly its extensive use of cultural-historical activity theory as a research lens, and secondly in drawing on various theoretical frameworks. Both quantitative and qualitative research informed the findings of the book.In accordance with the requirements of the De...

show abstract

“…Storytelling has a rich tradition and is considered as one of the original teaching forms (Liang et al 2017). Storytelling is central in puppetry, and De Beer, Petersen and Brits (2018) explored the epistemological border-crossing, using puppets to infuse art and drama into the classroom. Puppets can be used effectively as a pedagogical tool in education.…”

Section: Puppetry As a Teaching Methodologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Arguing for the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in the STEM curriculum: Possibilities and challenges

Beer¹,

Wyk²

2019

NWU Self-Directed Learning Series

Self Cite

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Peer review declarationThe publisher (AOSIS) endorses the South African 'National Scholarly Book Publishers Forum Best Practice for Peer Review of Scholarly Books'. The manuscript was subjected to a rigorous two-step peer review prior to publication, with the identities of the reviewers not revealed to the author(s). The reviewers were independent of the publisher and/or authors in question. The reviewers commented positively on the scholarly merits of the manuscript and recommended that the manuscript should be published. Where the reviewers recommended revision and/or improvements to the manuscript, the authors responded adequately to such recommendations. Research JustificationThis book is the result of a longitudinal research project (2016)(2017)(2018) funded by the National Research Foundation and the Fuchs Foundation, and it disseminates original research. The project researched the affordances of indigenous knowledge in the school Science, Technology and Mathematics curricula. Short learning programmes (SLPs) were offered to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) teachers, during which they engaged in creative and inquiry-based teaching and learning strategies. Research shows that strategies such as problem-based and cooperative learning have the potential to enhance self-directed learning. This design-based research was conducted in several provinces in South Africa (North-West Province, the Northern Cape, Limpopo province, and Gauteng). Based on the data obtained after each intervention, design principles were formulated for redesigning of SLPs. The qualitative research focussed on teachers' lived experiences of the epistemological bordercrossing between Natural Science and indigenous knowledge, their views on the nature of science and indigenous knowledge, and the reformed teaching and learning that took place after the intervention in teachers' classrooms. Most of the chapters in the book report empirical data, with the exception of three chapters (Ch. 2, Ch. 10 and Ch. 11), that can be categorised as systematic reviews. The book is devoted to scholarship in the field of STEM education and teacher professional development, with a specific focus on research into the enhancement of self-directed learning. The target audience are scholars working in the fields of indigenous knowledge systems, STEM education, teacher professional development and self-directed learning. This book makes a unique contribution in terms of, firstly, its extensive use of third-generation Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) as a research lens and, secondly, in drawing on research from the fields of neuroscience, science education philosophy, self-directed learning and indigenous knowledge systems, in arguing for such border-crossing. Chapter 1 shows how this research contributes to the development of fourthgeneration CHAT, which, owing to the complexity of the object (which Engeström refers to as 'runaway objects'), requires a focus on numerous activity systems. The book also explores the conundrum of rese...

show abstract

The Use of Puppetry and Drama in the Biology Classroom

Cited by 12 publications

References 11 publications

Work-integrated learning and teaching schools: The University of Johannesburg teaching school experience

Work-integrated learning and teaching schools: The University of Johannesburg teaching school experience

Foreword

Arguing for the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in the STEM curriculum: Possibilities and challenges

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About