Social Studies in Drama and Dance

So far I have covered how to integrate principles of Drama and Dance into core learning subjects. The possibility of blending math and science with the arts is surprising for some but I hope I've been able to at least introduce you to some of the benefits and possibilities. Today, as we look at our topic of Social Studies, I hope by now you fully believe that anything is possible! Integrating Drama and Dance into the Social Studies curriculum creates exciting opportunities for students to explore the social and cultural evolutions in our world.

Now, let's start by taking a look at the guiding theory for today's topic.

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Bloom’s Taxonomy is a model used by educators to encourage deeper levels of thinking in students. The model classifies learning objectives into categories of thinking. The top of the pyramid identifies the highest form of thinking students can engage in, creating, and with the bottom being the lowest, remembering.

Dance

In week one of the course, my group presented the dance Tinikling. The folk dance Tinikling is a cultural dance that originated from the Philippines during Spanish colonial times. Tinikling requires the dancer to move quickly between bamboo sticks. Two dancers quickly manoeuver around the bamboo sticks as two other dancers move the sticks back and forth, up and down.  

In Grade 8, student learning focuses more on the higher levels in Bloom’s taxonomy, as students are now more capable of deeper forms of reflection and thinking. In the Arts curriculum, students explore dance as a reflection, interpretation, and understanding of culture. Students examine dance in a specific cultural content. Expectation A3.1 states that students “describe how social, political, and economic factors influenced the emergence and development of a dance form or genre of their choice” (Ontario Arts Curriculum, 2009). Tinikling is an example of a dance that was developed in response to social and political happenings at the time.

This lesson easily connects to the Grade 8 Social Studies curriculum strand B, Global Inequalities. In this strand, students analyze relationships that contribute to global inequalities and investigate issues related to global development.  

Inquiry into Cultural Dances

The Social Studies curriculum is rooted in the inquiry based approach to learning. As an inquiry project, students can chose a country and investigate different forms of dance that originated there. This project would meet the Arts curriculum expectation for students to examine dances in cultural contexts, as well as the Geography curriculum where students are expected to identify different social contexts.

Teaching Tinikling

As an exemplar, the teacher can introduce the dance Tinikling to students before they begin their own investigating into cultural dances. In this lessons, students explore the dance elements of body and relationship.

Body awareness is crucial in Tinikling as students focus on jumping, hoping, and sliding over and around the moving bamboo sticks. Students can start simply and increase the complexity of each movement as they practice.

Relationships refers to the relationship students have to objects and others in the dance. In this case, students dance in relation to the moving bamboo sticks and the other dancers participating.

To challenge students further, introduce the two choreographic forms ABA and Rondo.

ABA is a three-part sequence where the second movement contrasts from the first and third ones. Rondo is an extension of ABA, as more than three forms are included (i.e. ABACADA). The sequence alternates between repeating movements but will return to the main theme (ABACADA). Students can practice creating sequences and then following sequences created by their peers.

Modifications for students with Physical Exceptionalities include:

• partner or teacher can hold the hand or arm of the student while they complete the steps over the bamboo sticks
• speed and timing of the steps can be slowed down to a pace where the student feels most comfortable
• students who cannot physically jump or move quickly on their feet (wheelchair, crutches, etc.) can use props like hockey sticks or lacrosse sticks to repeat the steps over the bamboo sticks

Drama

By Grade 8, students are expected to develop a deeper understanding of the complex issues influencing the world today. Dramatic forms and activities provide teachers and students with a variety of strategies to explore these issues. For instance, interviewing is a dramatic convention where one person or group takes the role of the “interviewer” and asks questions to another students, who acts in the role of the “expert” to gather information. Students can use this strategy to explore influential characters from the present or past in depth.

Interview from the Past

In Dance, students had the opportunity to research a cultural dance. For Drama, students can engage in a similar inquiry style project, but with choosing an individual or organization from history. Students investigate the life of an influential person from the present or past and share their knowledge in the form of interviewing. This activity exposes students to different perspectives and forces them to examine the different influences that shape an organization or person. Students must take into account the social, economic, political, and cultural context when examining the person and issue in depth.

Students incorporate the elements of time/place and role/character.

In this activity, time and place is explored by using props and costumes to establish a setting and context. Identity is often expressed through dress and materials things. Students can research and chose different props and costumes to include in the interview. This is a way for the student to make certain statements about a character without having to explain using words.

For instance, if a student decided to represent a religious figure like the Dali Lama, they might dress in a robe, carry a book, or any other props to reflect this character’s identity and contribution to our world.

From the student’s research, they would be able to incorporate the motivation, speech, actions, etc. to adopt the role of the person they are presenting on. The student would be able to speak to various past experiences and influences this person had in their society and the world. The students might decide which elements to incorporate as they are being interviewed by their peer. It is important for the student to analyse their research in order to create a representation of the individual.

Opportunities for Accommodations:

·         Students can collaborate to present/interview on one individual. This activity works in large and small groups.

·         Students can carry a script as they are being interviewed or can memorize the information

·         Some students may feel more comfortable pre-recording their interview.

·         Interviews can vary in length

·         The teacher can provide interview prompts for students or students can develop their own.

As always, there is so much flexibility for educators to adopt activities to suit the particular needs in their classroom.

Next week, we'll be taking a look at Physical Education . Stay tuned!