Is an online creative drama lesson possible? Preschool prospective teachers' opinions on the effectiveness of online creative drama lessons

Abstract

This study aims to determine the opinions of preschool pre-service teachers on the adequacy of online drama lessons throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. A descriptive survey model of the qualitative research methods was used and online drama lessons were run over a 12-weekperiod. Participants of the research were 64 pre-school prospective teachers who studied as senior students at a Turkish state university. In order to investigate the online applicability and effectiveness of practice-based drama lessons during this critical COVID-19 pandemic time, lesson planning has been avoided, considering that the elements that should be included in formal drama teaching should also be included in online drama. In the process of data collection, prior to online lesson, objectives and outcomes of online drama practices were designated with senior pre-service teachers in the department of pre-school education at a state university. The three researchers administered online lessons devised in accordance with the determined objectives and outcomes to eighty pre-school students. And they focused on the alignment of the dramatic structure constituents with function and the adequacy of the activities in the preparatory stage for the transition to the dramatization stage. Furthermore, activities in the dramatization stage and evaluation stage were examined in terms of adequacy in meeting the outcomes. Lesson plans were structured with the consideration that elements that are present in the formal drama instruction must be included in online drama practices, as well. Regarding the results obtained in the end of the study, it can be concluded that all the said elements were successfully reflected in the lessons. So, teachers can apply drama processes online in their classes and drama researchers can conduct studies regarding the effects of online drama lesson on different learning stages.