INVESTIGATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF CREATIVE THINKING AND ADAPTABILITY SKILLS THROUGH PROCESS DRAMA TECHNIQUES IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN SRI LANKA Ayomi Indika Irugalbandara B. Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education Faculty of Education Queensland University of Technology 2020 Keywords Acceptability, adaptability skills, drama-based intervention, creative thinking, engagement, feasibility, fidelity, hot-seat, improvisation, observation, process drama techniques, possibility thinking, storytelling, socio-cultural theory, tripartite perspective. Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka i Abstract Creative thinking and adaptability skills are widely considered to be important 21st-century skills. However, in Sri Lanka they are not being taught, which may affect students’ ability to compete in a global skills market, and, as a result, they may lack specific life skills, such as thinking creatively, the ability to creatively solve problems, engaging in lifelong learning, reasoning and the ability to plan and apply their knowledge.
Subjects such as drama may be successful vehicles for developing such skills in students; however, when students experience a teacher-oriented approach to drama, neither creativity skills nor dramatic performance are encouraged, either individually or collaboratively. In order to address these skills shortages, this study set out to explore the potential of an intervention that could develop creative thinking and adaptability skills in Sri Lankan school students. I implemented in a non-randomised control group an intervention program that I had designed to examine and evaluate the potential of process drama techniques to develop creative thinking and adaptability skills in Grade 7 school students, aged 11-12, who were studying drama. The program was implemented over twelve consecutive weeks, in weekly two-hour sessions, by regular drama teachers who had been trained in the method.
The training involved a whole- day workshop. I conducted pre/post-test measures to assess the intervention, using an adapted version of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking and Martin’s Adaptability Scale. I also observed lessons in which the implementation was carried out, and conducted interviews and focus groups with both staff and students involved in the trial, in order to ensure fidelity, feasibility, and the measure of acceptability of the program in relation to both students and teachers in the Sri Lankan school context. The study found that process drama techniques and approaches did improve students’ creative thinking and adaptability skills scores, compared to both the control group and the active control group.
As such, the data suggest that when a suitable environment and possibilities for active engagement are provided, students engage energetically in creative experiences, processes and development, and their creative thinking and adaptability measurement scores are significantly enhanced. The data found that the teachers had implemented the program faithfully, and that it was a viable ii Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka program both for students and teachers. However, while students were enthusiastic in their evaluation of the program, the teachers found that there were external forces, such as the lack of physical space and the format of the examination assessment, which prevented them from continuing with the program after the study was completed. Implications of these findings in relation to both Sri Lankan drama education and future research directions are discussed.
Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka iii Preface For my country which is being offered free education access for all… For the unprivileged people who are shouldering the burden of my living expenses in Australia by paying taxes on their blood, sweat and tears … For their children’s future potential… iv Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka Relevant Publications JOURNAL ARTICLE Irugalbandara, A. A new strategy for Sri Lankan drama education. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 25(2), 256-262.1730173 CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS Irugalbandara, A. How could an educational intervention influence students’ creativity and adaptability skills? Paper presented at the Australian Association for Research in Education Conference (AARE), QUT, Kelvin Grove Campus, Brisbane.
Creativity as a right in drama education: Sri Lankan student experiences. Paper presented at the HDR conference, Griffith University, South Brisbane. Fostering creative thinking through drama education: teacher perspectives. Paper published in the 33rd Annual Conference of the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU), Pakistan.
Dramatic thinking as an open thinking strategy. Paper presented at the international conference on 3rd Australia and New Zealand Conference on Advance Research (ANZCAR -2019), Melbourne, Australia. Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka v Table of Contents Keywords. iv Relevant Publications.
v Table of Contents. vi List of Figures. x List of Tables. xi Statement of Original Authorship.
1 My personal journey to the research problem. 2 Research context: Sri Lanka. 3 The structure of formal education. 5 The rationale behind conducting this study.
7 Criticisms of the present education system in Sri Lanka. 7 Drama-based approaches for teaching and learning. 16 Suitable drama techniques for successful teaching and learning of creative thinking and adaptability skills in schools. 16 Aim of the study.
18 Significance of the research. 22 The place of drama education in sri lanka. 22 The advantages of teaching drama differently. 38 Tripartite perspective on adaptability.
43 Process drama for successful teaching and learning of creative thinking and adaptability skills in schools. 45 Assessing creative thinking and adaptability skills in drama. 63 Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspectives. 64 Zone of Proximal Development.
66 Vygotsky on drama and creativity development. 68 vi Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka The application of Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory to the present study .73 Possibility thinking and process drama techniques .84 A Non- Randomised Controlled Trial (NRCT) Design.88 Data collected for establishing acceptability, fidelity, and feasibility. 100 Data collection procedures .105 Pre-intervention Workshop .108 Pre-intervention survey .110 The process of classroom observation .114 The process of focus group discussion .116 The process of interviews .117 Data transcription and translation .118 Data analysis and interpretation.119 Quantitative data analysis. 125 Results for creativity .126 Verbal creativity total score.126 Figural creativity total score .128 The overall results of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT) .130 Gender and creativity .132 Results for adaptability .133 Tripartite perspective on adaptability .135 Fidelity, acceptability and feasibility of the program .139 Fidelity of the program .140 Acceptability of the program .144 Feasibility of the program .167 Discussion and Conclusion.
169 Outline of the overall process of the thesis .170 Discussion oF findings .176 Possible reasons for success of the intervention .179 Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka vii Discussion of the fidelity, acceptability and feasibility of the intervention. 193 Implications for policymakers. 193 Implications for teacher practice. 195 Implications for school administration.
198 Implications for parents. 199 Contribution to knowledge. 200 Limitations of the study. 202 Recommendations for future research.
243 Appendix A: Ethical approval for pilot study. 243 Appendix A1: Principal Information Sheet (Pilot). 258 Appendix A2: Principal Consent Form (Pilot). 260 Appendix A3: Teacher Information Sheet (Pilot).
261 Appendix A4: Teacher Consent Form (Pilot). 263 Appendix A5: Student Information Sheet (Pilot). 264 Appendix A6: Student Consent Form (Pilot). 266 Appendix A7: Parent Information Sheet (Pilot).
267 Appendix A8: Parent Consent Form (Pilot). 269 Appendix B: Approval letter for the main study from Ministry of Education. 270 Appendix C: Ethics for Main Study. 271 Appendix C1: Principal Information Sheet (Group A).
285 Appendix C2: Principal Consent Form (Group A). 287 Appendix C3: Teacher Information Sheet (Group A). 288 Appendix C4: Teacher Consent Form (Group A). 290 Appendix C5: Student information: sheet (Group A).
291 Appendix C6: Student Consent Form (Group A). 293 Appendix C7: Parent Information Sheet (Group A). 294 Appendix C8: Parent Consent Form (Group A). 296 Appendix D1: Principal Information Sheet: (Group B).
297 Appendix D2: Principal Consent Form (Group B). 299 Appendix D3: Teacher Information: Sheet (Group B). 300 Appendix D4: Teacher Consent Form (Group B). 302 Appendix D5: Student Information Sheet (Group B).
303 Appendix D6: Student Consent Form (Group B). 305 Appendix D7: Parent Information Sheet (Group B). 306 Appendix D8: Parent Consent Form (Group B). 308 Appendix E1: Principal Information Sheet: (Group C).
309 Appendix E2: Principal Consent Form (Group C). 311 Appendix E3: Parent Information: Sheet (Group C). 312 Appendix E4: Parent Consent Form (Group C). 314 Appendix F: Intervention Manual.
315 viii Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka ix List of Figures Figure 1 Lack of skilled workforce in Sri Lanka. 9 Figure 2 Main effect of Gender on Verbal Creativity Scores. 12732 Figure 3 Pre- and post-verbal creativity total score. 128 Figure 4 Pre/post figural creativity total score.
1305 Figure 5 Pre/post TTCT total score. 1327 Figure 6 Interaction between Group and Gender for total creativity scores. 1338 Figure 7 Pre/post adaptability total score. 1349 x Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka List of Tables Table 1 4P’s of Creativity.
37 Table 2 Data collection plan in this thesis. 869 Table 3 Adaptability scale. 948 Table 4 Summary of participant involvement in the intervention. 1049 Table 5 The whole process of intervention.
10510 Table 6 Formation of the intervention manual. 1094 Table 7 Scoring rubric for verbal creativity indexes. 1216 Table 8 Scoring rubric for figural creativity indexes. 1227 Table 09 Gender of participants.
12530 Table 10 Levene’s test for homogeneity of variances – verbal test scores at each time point. 12631 Table 11 The total score of pre- and post-verbal creativity. 12732 Table 12 Levene’s test for homogeneity of variances - figural test scores at each time point. 1294 Table 13 The total score of pre and post-figural creativity.
1294 Table 14 An overall analysis of the TTCT Pre/post total score. 1316 Table 15 Levene’s test for homogeneity of variances - adaptability test scores at each time point. 1338 Table 16 Pre/post-adaptability test results. 1349 Table 17 Pre/post cognitive adaptability skills.
13540 Table 18 Pre/post cognitive adaptability skills between groups and within groups. 13641 Table 19 Pre/post behavioural adaptability skills. 13742 Table 20 Pre/post behavioural adaptability skills between groups and within groups. 13843 Table 21 Pre/post emotional adaptability skills.
13843 Table 22 Pre/post emotional adaptability skills between groups and within groups. 1394 Investigation of the development of creative thinking and adaptability skills through process drama techniques in junior secondary school students in Sri Lanka xi Statement of Original Authorship The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made.