Examining the Effectiveness of Drama Education Program on the Interaction and Social Skills of Children in Preschool Classes Applying Inclusive Practices

Abstract

This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of the drama education on social interactions and social skills of children in preschool classes where inclusive practices are applied. In this study, an experimental design was used with control group through pretest-posttest follow-up design in order to evaluate the impact of the drama education on social interaction and collaboration, cooperation, and sharing behaviors of children. The research population was comprised of typically developing children and children with special needs, who are 60-66 months, attending independent preschools, which implement inclusive practices, functioning under the Ministry of National Education in Afyonkarahisar city center in academic year 2016-2017. The research sample was determined through the criterion sampling, which is among purposive sampling methods. In line with the aims of the study, the main criteria were determined as follows: there should be young children with disabilities in the class, the teacher should not have any previous training about drama except for the drama course during the undergraduate education, and the children should not have an additional drama education outside their curriculum. In line with the determined criteria, 18 children comprised the experimental group, and 18 children formed the control group. In the study, the “Interaction Rating Scale of Children (IRSC)” and “Collaboration-Cooperation-Sharing Behaviors Observation Form (CCSBOF)” were used. Hacettepe University Drama Education Program (HUDEP) was prepared by researchers to support the social interactions and collaboration, cooperation, and sharing behaviors of children in the classes, where the inclusive practices are performed. The program was implemented throughout 8 weeks and 16 sessions. In addition to preschool education programs, children in the experimental group were given HUDEP twice a week for 8 weeks. In order to observe the effects of HUDEP, pretest and posttest were applied together with the data collection tools, and the follow-up test was applied 1 month after the posttest. The result showed that the HUDEP implemented in the experimental group increased the interaction skills and collaboration, cooperation, and sharing behaviors of children. It was also observed that the interaction skills and collaboration-cooperation-sharing behaviors of children in the control group were also increased. In order to determine which group has higher increase, the pretest and posttest scores that children obtained from the scale were compared. As the conclusion of the comparison, it was determined that there was a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group.