Drama is a powerful mode of communication that enables students to develop a sense of self, and to explore the world around them. The IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) sees all forms of the arts as integral in stimulating students to think and articulate their thoughts in creative and new ways, across a range of media. From a very early age, students learn to express themselves, develop attention and live in the moment. Through drama, students learn to articulate words clearly and are able to speak confidently in public, as they engage in interesting units that explore historical, social and cultural aspects of topics in point. Students pay attention to their lines as well as others’ lines, and their timing in the play / production. As a result, they become more and more connected to the present, learning to live in the moment with all senses in tune.

With these strong purposes in mind, Drama teacher Ms. Carolyn Boras and Ms. Hetty Boon encouraged their JK students to celebrate the year-end with an inquiry based class performance. The play was about Helena’s starting a garden. As Helena lived in a big, crowded and noisy city, she first had to move to the countryside for her little garden. She didn’t know anything about gardening so she turned to JK students who have recently created a turtle garden for answers.

Back in the beginning of the term JK students had a surprising encounter with little turtle toys planted by their teacher Ms. Hetty Boon on the floor of their classroom. Students were very excited to see their tiny friends but they had no idea on how to take care of them: Where do turtles live? What do they eat? How do they grow? Students had to find out for themselves...

With the help of their teacher and parents, they looked for books on turtles, researched on the internet and watched films with QR codes. Some of the students took the initiative and visited the Turtle Museum by the Chinese Garden during weekends. Another student, Parth brought a poem called, “The Little Turtle”, which was soon to become the masterpiece of the class performance.

After a student-driven learning journey, students wanted to share their learning with their parents at the year-end celebration with a play called, “Helena’s Garden”. Parth stood at the centre and introduced the poem, after which all his classmates joined him in reciting the poem together.

JK students showed their parents that they learnt so much about living things which they genuinely cared about.

Learning through inquiry is essential for young children’s development in the early years programme as it promotes critical thinking, problem solving and creativity. Young children’s natural curiosity fuels the inquiry process, as they question and investigate the world around them. This experiential mode of learning, and an innate self-driven quest for knowledge (young children frequently ask “why”) sees students grasping concepts much more readily than they would via traditional rote learning. The inclusion of authentic role play sees students communicating and articulating what they have learnt, in a very concrete manner to their teachers, parents and peers.

1 of 7