An analysis of the effectiveness of creative drama method in teaching democratic values in 7th grade secondary school

This study aims to support studies on creating new, active learning areas where permanent learning is achieved by processing the achievements of the "Living Democracy" unit in the 7th grade Social Studies textbook of middle school with the creative drama method. In line with this goal, it is aimed to present original studies that increase the permanence of learning within the framework of the creative drama technique and to compare this method with traditional methods. The "Living Democracy" unit in the 7th grade Social Studies textbook was selected as the study area. The reason for this is that the achievements in this unit are directly related to raising active citizens and the achievements in question are abstract. At the same time, this study aims to help students gain skills such as democracy, the adoption and internalization of democratic values, and critical thinking. In this study, the action research (action pattern) model was used as a qualitative method. The Social Studies Attitude Scale was applied to the study groups both before and after the application. Thus, it was examined whether the attitudes of the groups towards the course changed. In addition, interview form questions were directed to the experimental group students after the creative drama application; the data obtained regarding the teaching and adoption of democratic values ​​with the creative drama method and their views on the course were analyzed qualitatively by dividing them into themes and categories. The study group of the research consists of 7th grade students studying in a secondary school in the Yüksekova district of Hakkari province in the 2023–2024 academic year.