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Mantle of the Expert and Science / Fictional Others

Ka mua, ka muri - DI Symposium 2022

Whāngārā Marae, 368 Pa Road, Gisborne

8th |  9th | 10th October 2022

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Outline

Fictional others

Fictional others in Tuna Kaitiaki

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Mantle of the Expert

  • Fictional context
  • Company/Team
  • Frame
  • Commission
  • Client
  • Curriculum framed as professional tasks
  • Powerful positioning
  • Drama for learning conventions
  • Tensions
  • Reflection
  • (Aitken, 2021, pp 30-31)

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Client

Directive purpose for student learning

“Generated in our heads through sign and role conventions and acts as the teacher’s agent.

Focuses curricular learning so that the work produced for the client is critical and of a high standard

Is the main audience for student work

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Positioning Theory

Even the naming of the other can position someone as other than oneself (van Langenhove & Harre, 1999).

The roles people take up or are assigned to

    • Interactions between self and others
    • Making meaning
    • Identity formation

Positioning oneself or being positioned affects how one can acts or can act as a gate keeper to action (Harre & Moghaddam, 2003).

Story line

Social force /actions

Position

Positioning Theory �(Harré & van Langenhove, 1999)

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The Other in drama

  • Drama can broaden students’ notions of others by allowing them space to both “imagine oneself as the other [and] … recognise the other in oneself” (Neelands, 2001, p.44).

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  • Unsettle assumptions about others
  • Challenge status quo
  • Promote alternate discourses
  • Chance to explore possibilities
  • Can inform
  • Create empathy
  • Make meaning

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The Other (Heathcote)

“Everything else in the world except oneself is ‘an other’” (Heathcote, 1991, p.162).

“Role is one of the most efficient ‘others’” (p. 162).

Role can be used to open up dramatic exploration.

It “sets the frame,” providing tension and meaning for the participants. (p. 163).

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Fictional others?

An imagined other

Client

Participants in role

Can be embodied or evoked (Aitken, 2021, p. 317).

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Role Conventions

Sometimes the ‘other’ is present

    • Physically through teacher in role
    • Symbolically through a picture

Sometimes the ‘other’ is fictional

    • Mental construct conjured up through the conventions and dialogue between participants.

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Fictional Others

High status

Internal to the company

Low status

External to the company

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Usefulness of fictional others in student learning

Used to enhance the quality of student work

    • Not just a task but a task that matters

Allow students to explore different perspectives

    • Why does the farmer have a different perspective to the urban dweller?

Extend the roles they can see for themselves and ‘imagine oneself as the other’

Challenge discourses – scientists are weird

Ethical tension – slow down the learning, enhance criticality and explore science-based ethical issues

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Carrie Swanson

  • Medical Laboratory Scientist (Microbiology)
  • Primary Teacher
  • Initial Teacher Education AUT
  • Fields of interest – Primary Science, Dramatic inquiry (Mantle of the Expert), integrated curriculum.
  • Involved with the Dramatic Inquiry Network of Expertise.

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The sinking problem with science

Decreasing engagement towards science and science careers (Bolstad & Hipkins, 2008; Tytler & Osborne, 2012)

Decreasing student achievement in science (Chamberlain & Caygill, 2012; May, Cowles, & Lamy, 2013; (Educational Assessment Research Unit & New Zealand Council for Educational Research, 2013).

Hampered by conflicting aim of science for scientific literacy and science for scientists

Engagement enhanced through learning in relevant contexts, using inquiry, hands-on activities and student ownership (Bolstad & Hipkins, 2008; Marginson, Tytler, Freeman, & Roberts, 2013).

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My first love was science. I became a primary teacher to engage students into science.

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Learning science through STEM/STEAM (Swanson, 2021).

STEM/STEAM is an endorsed approach by the Ministry of Education (Te Kete Ipurangi, n.d.)

    • students inquire into authentic problems using a creative, active, integrated approach to enhance critical thinking and discussion.

Can enhance students’ problem-solving skills, creativity, communication skills, and engagement.

Advantageous because it shares power, enhances student autonomy and can be framed holistically and support authentic culturally responsive pedagogies (Drake & Reid, 2018; Fraser & Paraha, 2002; Wilson, 2020).

Can be challenging in terms of assessments, timetabling and broad curricular constraints(McDowall & Hipkins, 2019).

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Tuna Kaitiaki

  • “Science and drama are natural bedfellows in education … both ‘are ways that we experience and make sense of the world’… Both have their roots in … curiosity [and] … play” (O’Toole, 2021).

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Drama is a valuable pedagogical approach in science because it is ….

Enjoyable

Embodied

Experiential learning

Ethical

Enlarges the learning space

Endorsed by Ministry of Education

Enhances understanding of science concepts, the Nature of Science, and science in society (McGregor et a., 2019; Swanson, 2016, 2019a).

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The Eels of Anzac Bridge

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Pre-planning

Curricular links

    • Living World: Life processes.
    • Living World: Ecology
    • Nature of Science: Understanding about science
    • Nature of Science: Participating and contributing
    • Drama: Developing ideas:

Possible Resources

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Science Conceptual knowledge

  • 25-80 years head out to sea to spawn.
  • 5000 km to South Pacific near Tonga to breed.
  • Adults die after spawning.
  • Eggs hatch to larvae – drift back to NZ over 15-17 months
  • Larvae transform to glass eels – juvenile eels
  • Once they enter estuaries – turn darker – elvers
  • Swim up stream to find a suitable place to live.

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How could we set the scene?

  • Poster of Tuna
  • Living Stream and Restoring Stream
  • Picture of the ANZAC bridge
  • Name – Tuna Kaitiaki

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Knowledge Building�

  • If we are to be Kaitiaki of Tuna what do we need to know?
  • What do we need to do?
  • Perhaps we need to interview an expert?
  • You all have a slip of paper.
  • I am putting you in role as experts

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If I was going into a Mantle of the Expert Drama� what would I need?

Expert Team – Tuna Kaitiaki

Client – Historical Enviro Committee (Equates to Friends of the ANZAC Memorial Bridge with an environmental twist)

Commission

Analyse the water quality in the Makakahi River and determine the health of the river. Ascertain the status of the tuna population. Determine what needs to be done to improve the health of the river and current tuna population. Conduct a plan to raise awareness. Take action to protect the river.

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Drawing students into the drama through literature

  • “One hot summer’s afternoon in the tiny village of Kaiparoro, a small boy ran lickety split over a rickety bridge. Racing down the trusty track, he leapt into the river” (Foster, 2012, p.4,5).

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Why is looking after the �environment important ?�

  • (DH 17) An account of a person writing as if from that person, but read by someone else, for example a diary extract.
  • Note we are building an ethical fictional other.
  • Can you see him?
  • Can you show him in a freeze frame?
  • You could move into Role on the Wall

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My name is Albert. A long time ago I used to go eeling, drink the water and swim in the Makakahi River. Now when I go to the river all I see the dirty water and rubbish, and signs saying, “Do not swim”. I wish we could go back to when I was a boy.

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Drama Possibilities

  • As Kaitiaki how would we look after the habitat?
  • Is there anyone we need to interview (in role) about the river/eels?
  • We could invite a kaumatua to tell us about local Mātauranga Māori about eels.
  • We could invite a local farmer – perhaps evoked by the gumboot
  • Role depicted in a picture (DH8)

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How could we show the life cycle of the eel through the arts

What could we do here?

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Connecting to te ao Māori

Could look at Sina and the Eel for a Pacific focus.

“In one South Island tradition, the demigod Māui fought Tuna, a supernatural giant eel, because it had frightened his wives, Hine-tū-repo and Hine-te-ngahere. Māui cut Tuna in half. One part became the sea-dwelling conger eel (ngōiro, or kōiro in the South Island), and the other a freshwater eel” https://teara.govt.nz/en/postage-stamp/13962/maui-fighting-tuna

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Doing Science

  • How could the client help us get into science learning?
  • Send us a mini- commission?
  • A water testing kit?

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Possible tasks and actions

Write a report

Annotated diagram of the river

Graphs

Chemical equations

Letter writing

Poster

Debating

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Extending our knowledge

RESEARCH WHAT THE RIVER NEEDS

CONSULT EXPERTS

WRITE AN ACTION PLAN

DISSEMINATE THE KNOWLEDGE

WHAT CURRICULAR LINKS ARE THESE?

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Building tension and quality

Dear Expert Team,

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I am the new owner of the land. Why are you asking me to plant along the river? I don’t care about eels – they are slimy.

Yours G Rump.

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DH 22

A letter read in the voice of the writer. This is an emanation of a specific presence, not just any voice communicating the words.

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What shall we do?

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Planning for action

What do we do?

Let’s play

If we were to take different roles (bring in other fictional others)

Discuss

How can you represent the fictional others at the meeting?

Draw a symbol

Act out what is happening at the meeting

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Fictional other in the drama

Can you identify the fictional others used in the drama?

Were they high or low status?

How did they change the drama?

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References

Aitken, V. (2021). Real in all the ways that matter: Weaving learning across the curriculum with mantle of the expert. NZCER.

Bolstad, R., & Hipkins, R. (2008). Seeing yourself in science: The importance of the middle school years. Report prepared for the Royal Society of New Zealand. Retrieved from New Zealand Council for Educational Research: http://www.nzcer.org.nz/pdfs/16626.pdf

Chamberlain, M., & Caygill, R. (2012). Key findings from New Zealand's participation in the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) in 2012/2011. Wellington, New Zealand: Comparative Education Research Unit, Ministry of Education Retrieved from http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz.

Drake, S., & Reid, J. (2018). Integrated curriculum for the twenty-first century. In J. P. Miller, K, Nigh, M. J. Binder, B, Novak, & S. Crowell (Eds.), International handbook of holistic education (pp. 118–128). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315112398-15

Fraser, D., & Paraha, H. (2002). Curriculum integration as treaty praxis. Waikato Journal of Education, 8, 57–70. https://wje.org.nz/index.php/WJE/article/view/444

Harré, R., & van Langenhove, L. (1999). Positioning Theory: Moral contexts of intentional action. Blackwell.

Heathcote, Dorothy. [1975] 1991c. “Signs and Portents.” In Dorothy Heathcote: Collected Writings on Education and Drama, edited by Liz Johnson and Cecily O’Neill, 160–169. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

Heathcote, D., & Bolton, G. (1995). Drama for learning: Dorothy Heathcote's mantle of the expert approach to education Portmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Marginson, Marginson, S., Tytler, R., Freeman, B., & Roberts, K. (2013). STEM: Country comparisons: International comparisons of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education. Report for the Australian Council of Learned Academies. Retrieved from http://www.acola.org.au.

May, S., Cowles, S., & Lamy, M. (2013). PISA 2012 New Zealand summary report. Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Education, New Zealand Government. Retrieved from Education Counts website: http://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/publications/series/2543/pisa-2012/pisa-2012-new-zealand-summary-report

McGregor, D. (2012). Dramatising science learning: Findings from a pilot study to re-invigorate elementary science pedagogy for five- to seven-year olds. International Journal of Science Education, 34(8), 1145-1165. doi:10.1080/09500693.2012.660751

Neelands, J. (2001). “11/09 – The space in our hearts” In the 2nd International Theatre and Drama Education Conference, Athens, December 7-9.

McGregor, D., Baskerville, D., Anderson, D,. & Duggan, A. (2019). Examining the use of drama to develop epistemological understandings about the nature of science: A collective case from experience in New Zealand and England. International Journal of Science Education, Part B, 9(2), 171-194. https://doi.org/10.1080/21548455,2019.1585994

O’Toole, J. (2021). Foreword. In P. White, J. Raphael, & K. Van Cuylenburg’s Science and Drama :Contemporary and creative approaches to teaching and learning. (vii). Springet

Swanson, Carolyn Julie. 2016. “Positioned as Expert Scientists: Learning Science through Mantle of the Expert at Years 7/8.” PhD diss., University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. http://hdl.handle. net/10289/9974 Swanson, C. (2017). Fictional others: Expanding the possible through interactions with the fictional. NJ Drama Australia Journal, (41)1. 14-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/14452294.2017.1329678

Swanson, C. (2019). Working in multiple figured worlds and positioning to reinvestigate the science behind a national tragedy. Applied Theatre Research, 7(1). doi: 10.1386/atr_00009_1

Swanson, C. J. (2021). Varied experiences of science education in Auckland primary schools: Siloed, integrated, or somewhere in between? Teachers and Curriculum, 21(2),65–75. https://doi.org/10.15663/tandc.v21i0.365

Tytler, R., & Osborne, J. (2012). Student attitudes and aspirations towards science. In B. Fraser, K. Tobin & C. McRobbie (Eds.), Springer international handbook of education: Second international handbook of science. [Ebrary Reader version]. Retrieved from http://www.ebrary.com/corp

Wilson, K. (2020). Engaging diverse students in STEM. In A. Fitzgerald, C. Haeusler, & L Pfeiffer(Eds.), STEM education in primary classrooms: Unravelling contemporary approaches in Australia and New Zealand (pp. 12–27). Routledge.