Cecily O'Neill's process drama approach and its effect on values teaching

This study was carried out to determine the process drama approach of Cecily O'Neill, one of the pioneers of the drama field, in line with her own views, her works, relevant literature, the opinions of field experts, to develop a drama lesson plan and to examine the effect of this practice on the teaching of the value of 'honesty', which is one of the ten root values in the secondary school 7th grade Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge curriculum. The research was structured with the action research pattern, one of the qualitative research patterns. The data collection sources, tools and methods of the study, which was carried out in three different phases: literature review, interview and expert opinion survey and an experimental practice with students, also varied according to each phase. In the first phase of the research, the relationship between values and religious education, values education and drama in general, and Cecily O'Neill's process drama approach were discussed and described by the literature review. In the second phase, Cecily O'Neill and 11 field experts were consulted in order to complete the aspects that are thought to be missing in the description, to make an evaluation that includes more actuel and multiple perspectives, and also to stracture an appropriate drama practice plan accordingly. In the third and last phase, 'Process Drama Lesson Practice Plan Towards the Value of Honesty' was structured by utilising the data obtained and it was carried out in 13 sessions with a group of students. At this phase, the participants of the research consisted of 20 secondary school 7th grade students studying at a private school in Kestel District of Bursa in the 2021-2022 academic year. The required data for the study were collected through literature review, observation, survey and interview, and also documents such as student diaries, video recordings and students' productions in lessons were used as data. The findings obtained in the research were analyzed using the content analysis technique and word clouds were also created for the student diaries. As a result of the research, it has been determined that Cecily O'Neill is related to other drama pioneers, but also independent from them in many aspects and that she is a drama pioneer who brings the theatrical, aesthetic and improvisational structure of drama in education to forefront and her process drama approach has a positive effect on gaining values. It has been observed that process drama provides the participants with multiple possibilities such as reasoning, designing, taking action, trial/error, negotiating, moral reasoning and facing oneself, empathy, and provides a basis for concentrated environment and medium for teachers and students in terms of value education. Based on these findings, it has been suggested that the process drama approach, which has the theatrical and aesthetic features in the forefront in terms of education through art, should be used actively in the field of religious education and values education and make more ground in general drama practices.