ABSTRACT
In science teaching, teachers are often very concerned with factual content they must cover. Their view of a successful lesson can be bound up with ensuring that the correct information has been effectively imparted. Using drama, however, can provide numerous opportunities for more imaginative ways for the children to learn through science, about science and to learn from science. They can engage with learning in a more active and participatory way. It can quite naturally (through modelling or miming movement, etc.) provide the arena for children to show what they think or believe about something. They often hold intuitive ideas, such as thinking that all plants are cultivated, therefore weeds are not plants (Guest 2003), or that a single wire connection from a bulb to a battery will make a successful circuit (because they see electrical appliances in their homes work with only one cable). Young children may also think that magnets stick to objects because they have magical properties or some kind of glue (Guest 2003). These kinds of alternate conceptions can be based on personal observations and their (limited) life experiences so far. Drama, therefore, offers an ideal opportunity to explore what instinctive ideas and prevailing perceptions exist and (often) persist in children’s minds.
