The effect of creative drama method in teaching values to primary 4 th class

In this study, the effect of using creative drama in teaching values to 4th grade students in primary schools was examined. In particular, whether the attitudes of the students were changed through creative drama activities was studied regarding three specific values namely, responsibility, respect and patience. A mixed research design, the convergent parallel, was adopted in the study where both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. The first dimension of the research was experimental in which a pre-test and post-test control groups were employed. In the qualitative dimension of the study, in order to reach a deeper understanding about the issue, interviews and journals of students and teacher were made use of. The study group of the research consisted of two classes of 4th grade students of a state primary school located in the district of Eyyübiye, Şanlıurfa. The study was carried out in the Fall of 2018. While the experimental group had 41 students, the control group had 39 students. The journals of students from the experimental group were selected through systematic sampling method. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected simultaneously in the process. In this context, a number of scales were used to determine the attitudes of the students towards the values of responsibility, respect and patience by using the scales of the "Responsibility", "Respect Disposition" and "Patient Behaviour" respectively. Furthermore, in order to obtain demographic characteristics of the students, a personal information form was used. A number of other data collection tools were also utilised in the study. The students and the teacher were asked to keep a journal to reveal their opinions regarding the process. An interview was carried out with the teacher using Interview Schedule developed by the researcher. Finally, a Word Association Test was used in order to identify concepts that students associate with the values of responsibility, respect and patience before and after the creative drama sessions. Descriptive statistics was used when analysing the quantitative data such as arithmetic means, standard deviation, frequency and percentage. To analyse the progress of students (if any) in both experimental and control groups, dependent samples t-test and independent samples t-test were executed. Content analysis was used when analysing the qualitative data. It was found that the attitude scores of the students in the experimental group regarding the aforementioned values were improved. Such improvement was further supported by the findings of the students' journals in which they stated that they improved their attitudes regarding the respect for difference; they learned about the importance of showing respect and consequences of it; they understood the importance of fulfilling their responsibilities and the consequences of being patient. When the results of the pre- and post-tests of Word Association Test were examined, it was found that the students in the experimental group wrote more concepts in relation to responsibility, respect and patience in the post-test compared to the pre-test. And the concepts were related to the values that were focused in the present study. When the journal of the teacher and the interview carried out with her/him were analysed, it was seen that the students in the experimental group developed positive attitudes towards the values of responsibility, respect and patience as well as transferred these attitudes to their real lives. The teacher stated that the number of misbehaviours exposed by the students were decreased and communication and motivation for learning within the class were increased. Therefore, it was concluded that the application of creative drama method in values education was considerably efficient in developing the values of students. It helps making the learning process concreate and helps developing positive attitudes in students in terms of the values of responsibility, respect and patience. Key Words: Values, Values education, Primary school, Creative drama, Responsibility, Respect, Patience