Fifth grade pupils perform Brecht’s play “The life of Galileo”. Learning Science and Nature of Science through Drama

Abstract

The paper refers to a project in which fifth grade pupils participated in activities relative to the history of astronomy and also studied, and performed Brecht’s play “The life of Galileo”. Drama has been used in science education as a teaching strategy for long years. The main question in this paper is how can drama in science education that leads to a school play enhance 11 year old pupils understanding on science and nature of science? The research method was mainly based on the use of qualitative tools. The involvement of pupils in drama activities relative with the history of science showed in practice that it can be an effective learning process. Pupils, involved in the whole drama project, gradually developed new skills, while discussed about important aspects of the nature of science, such as modeling, the nature and limits of observation, the effects of the sociocultural context in the formulation of a scientific theory, the way that science and religion have come either to a conflict or to an understanding through time.