The theme of the symposium at the 34th annual convention was “Redefining physicality of learning.” Using the idea that dramatic activities are tools with which learners travel between reality and fiction, the symposium focused on the significance of learning through the whole body by employing dramatic activities.
The first speaker was the symposium’s project leader Watanabe Jun. Watanabe pointed out knowledge-pouring lessons have been the most prevalent teaching style in Japan. However, he suggested that a range of activities need to be applied in everyday lessons if their counter concept, acquisition-oriented lessons, were to gain popularity in Japan.
Reports by three teachers followed. A primary school teacher, Miyazaki Michiharu, talked about his original dramawork based on wars in Afghanistan. Miyazaki used this practice in “Japanese” to claim the importance of exposing learners to non-verbal communication. A high school home economics teacher, Komatsu Ritsuko, gave a lesson on child abuse, with a picture storybook as a transitional object. Komatsu employed a dramatic activity called the “hotseating,” in which a learner took on the role of a particular character in the story and answered questions posed by the other learners. Komatsu concluded that the activity led her students to a deeper understanding of the theme, taking it as their own matter. A physical education teacher at the tertiary level, Fujii Hiromu, reported that a significant percent of students held negative views on physical education classes. Fujii proposed that learners “play again” in his warm-up activities for liberalization of both the mind and the body.
Watanabe Takahiro made a comment as a specialist in educational methodologies. Watanabe saw the “insights” learners gain as they physically learn as the core of the three reports. Yokota Masahiro commented on the reports from the point of view of intercultural education. Yokota mentioned possible changes in power relationships between the teacher and learners, as a result of bringing fictional, dramatic worlds as well as reality into the classroom.
