Research Project III: Stop Bullying! A Drama Project
General project
The research and teaching project Stop Bullying! A Drama Project focuses on promoting reading skills, self-efficacy and social interaction on the topic of bullying.
The theatre project is implemented in schools during the transition from primary school to lower secondary level, as a joint prevention project on the subject of bullying can create an integrative learning culture (Booth & Ainscow, 2002). With its strong action orientation, a theatre play in inclusive learning environments is particularly suitable for promoting reading and writing skills and strengthening the community through playing together. School studies show that students face barriers to educational progress when they lack literacy skills. At this point, our study aims to answer the following questions and focuses on the need for research in L1 didactics in inclusive learning groups:
(i) What reading skills (reading speed and reading comprehension) do the participating pupils show when reading literary texts at the beginning and at the end of the theatre project compared to the control group (no intervention)?
(ii) How high is the general self-efficacy expectation before and after participation in the theatre project?
(iii) How can the participating students be individually supported in the context of a theatre project and what language support do they receive?
(iv) How do the participating students rate the social integration of the theatre project?
We hypothesise that the reading speed, literary reading comprehension and self-efficacy expectations of the participating students can be promoted by a theatre project. In addition, we investigate whether the theatre project is positively evaluated by the students in the context of social interaction.
Current status of the project
After several school and extracurricular cycles, the sixth cycle to date was completed in spring 2024 in the form of a controlled intervention study in a longitudinal design with three test points (pre-post follow-up) at two comprehensive schools in Brandenburg. All our studies are cyclical and designed in collaboration with teachers within the framework of design-based research (Philippakos et al., 2021). So far (as of April 2024), a total of eight classes have been involved in the project. Within the project, valuable tips and recommendations for future theatre projects were exchanged between the students and participating teachers on the one hand and the university theatre coaches on the other. This supports the aim of the project to promote procedural, social and subjective reading skills with the help of a theatre script through scenic acting.
As part of a seminar, students from the University of Potsdam took part in the 7th cycle of the project. This time, the students had to stage a play. The production was performed in public on 4 July 2024, to which pupils and teachers from the participating schools as well as interested parties from the University of Potsdam were invited. This step was significant in that it also allowed prospective teachers to realise the potential of combining literary reading and theatrical performance. In addition, the students were asked to empathise with the pupils' situation when they have to perform a play on stage. The students reflected on their experiences at the end of the seminar in the form of written assignments.
Are you a teacher and our project has piqued your curiosity?
This project is intended to deepen the collaboration between university research and school practice in the long term. Good practice approaches from the project are to be transferred to teacher training and further education. You can find information on our further education programmes under the category Cooperation with schools.
Are you a student and would like to be part of our project?
We are always looking for committed students who are interested in supporting our project as part of their final theses. Students from both the Bachelor's and Master's degree programmes in teaching can apply.
