The Use of Puppetry and Drama in the Biology Classroom

Teachers often wonder how best to teach the myriad of social and ethical issues that are encompassed in the biology curriculum. One can just think of issues such as genetic engineering, evolution (and the continuous evolution-creationismdebate), research ethics (the haunting book The immortal life o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American biology teacher 2018-03, Vol.80 (3), p.175-181
Main Authors: Beer, Josef De, Petersen, Neal, Brits, Sanette
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
arts in the natural sciences
Biological evolution
Biology
Classrooms
Cooperative Learning
Core curriculum
Curricula
Drama
epistemological border-crossing
Epistemology
Ethics
FEATURE ARTICLE
FEATURE ARTICLES
Genetic engineering
Guidelines
Human populations
Nutrition
Population Education
Population studies
Puppetry
Research ethics
Science Curriculum
Sexuality
social and ethical issues in biology
teaching for the affective domain
Teaching Methods
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Summary:Teachers often wonder how best to teach the myriad of social and ethical issues that are encompassed in the biology curriculum. One can just think of issues such as genetic engineering, evolution (and the continuous evolution-creationismdebate), research ethics (the haunting book The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks comes to mind), human population studies, health care and nutrition,sexuality and gender, drugs, environmental pollution, to name but a few. In thisarticle we highlight the advantages of puppetry in the biology classroom, as anengaging pedagogy that could assist conceptual change in students.Weexplorethe dual epistemological border-crossing that takes place in the classroom whenpuppetry is used: (a) the integration of societal and ethical issues within thebiology curriculum, and (b) the infusion of art and drama within the naturalsciences. We reflect on our own classroom action research on puppetry, andshare our main findings. We also provide practical guidelines for using puppetryas pedagogy within a problem-based and cooperative learning setting.
ISSN:0002-7685
1938-4211
DOI:10.1525/abt.2018.80.3.175