Special Interest Groups (SIG)
Information about the Special Interest Groups during the IDEA2024 Congress has now been finalised.
IDEA and IDEAC World Congress 2024 in Beijing Special Interest Groups –
Programme1. Drama and Peace Education
Asa Ragnarsdottir (Iceland) and Monika Necpalova (Slovakia)
To dig peace education oppurtunities in different ways of looking to drama/theatre.
The participants will share their experiences about drama and will give examples from their national curriculum or life. After that the participants will try to offer arts based new ideas to bring an international understanding to the peace education.The SİG methodology will be based on Qualitative methodology. Activities such as some educational games and some theatre approachments such as forum theatre will be used.
Programme 2. Puppetry within drama education: processes, skills and applications
Cariad Astles (UK)
The aims of this SIG are to discuss, share and develop approaches to using puppetry in education. To link the SIG to UNIMA – the international puppetry association and its commission for education, development and therapy. To consider and explore training needs for teachers and educators in this field. To share proposals for resources, including conferences, online resources and publications. The SIG meeting at IDEA would begin with puppetry practice to engage a playful and hands-on methodology.
Programme 3. Drama Teaches 21st Century Employability Skills
Jane Carter (Australia)
Refer to the link below. This is the project that I led for Drama Victoria that first developed my interest in this area.
Jobs are being automated; work is becoming more complex and requires higher order skills. The economy is changing, and workers are expected to change careers many times throughout their lives, with all the learning that entails. In this context, there has been a shift in learning goals. Core knowledge and concepts retain their importance. At the policy level, the mission has become to ensure young people can think critically, creatively, and solve complex problems and decisions collaboratively. Apart from specific theatre performance and design skills such as acting, directing, costume designing, etc, Drama focuses on key literacy and analysis skills, life skills, management skills, public speaking skills and transferable skills that you can take into any field of work in the 21st and ongoing centuries. This SIG would explore how 21st Century Employability Skills can be taught using Drama skills:
Communication, Empathy, Critical Thinking, Technology, Creativity, Leadership, Confidence, Global Citizenship, Connection.
Participants will explore how these key skills can be taught through Drama activities. Moreover, this SIG would also develop and build Drama advocacy among the participants that could be taken back to help support the growth of Drama Departments across the world.
How can we teach 21st Century skills through Drama?
Participants will work in groups to create a 10 minute Drama activity that focuses on one of the above 21st Century Employability Skills. Participants will teach these to the rest of theclass. Observations and feedback will be given after presentations.
This project could be extended beyond the conference with a PLT (Professional Learning Community) .
Programme 4. Exploring the Integration of Drama in Chinese Language Education: Enhancing Learning and Engagement (SIG in chinese and english language)
Xinyi Wang (China)
The aim of our SIG is to explore the transformative potential of integrating drama into Chinese language education. We seek to foster interactive and immersive learning experiences that enhance language proficiency, cultural understanding, and student engagement. Through collaborative discussions and sharing of best practices, we aim to develop innovative strategies to empower both educators and learners in the field.
Proposed Methodology:
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Role-Playing Activities: Incorporate role-playing exercises where students take on different characters and scenarios to practice speaking and listening skills in Chinese. This could include everyday conversations, cultural situations, or historical events.
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Storytelling and Improvisation: Encourage students to create and perform short skits or improvisational scenes in Chinese, allowing them to express themselves creatively and develop language fluency.
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Reader's Theater: Utilize reader's theater techniques to engage students in reading and interpreting Chinese texts, such as poems, short stories, or dialogues, with expression and emotion.
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Cultural Exploration: Explore Chinese cultural themes and traditions through drama, including traditional festivals, folktales, and historical events, to deepen students' cultural understanding and appreciation.
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Performance Projects: Collaborate on larger-scale performance projects, such as drama productions or presentations, where students apply their language skills and cultural knowledge in a creative and meaningful way.
Programme 5. Theatre for all
Joachim Reiss, Germany
Exchange experiences and strategies of different education policies by IDEA-member- associations and activists in our countries for implementing drama in formal and non-formal education and about using the new UNESCO „Framework for Culture and Arts Education“ in our political activities.
The aim is to support each other with different experiences, examples of successful activities/strategies, creating new ideas and more.Discussions in small groups and the whole SIG, different objects/themes in small work groups.
About SIG
The Special Interest Groups (SIGs) consist of a team of coordinators and a group of international teachers, researchers and artists that gather in a dialogue and exchange around an area of interest or research about relevant topics, challenges, aims, methods and approaches in drama/theatre and education.The coordinators will have a group of 10 to 20 researchers and artists in a classroom. The main goal of the coordinator is to rouse a conversation inviting the group to exchange their ideas that are being nurtured by the other activities during the congress. SIGs are working groups whose spirit is bringing together people that are moved by a similar interest; their goal is to inspire each other as participants or give new ideas to teachers, researchers and artists and also create networks connected with subjects that will contribute to the empowerment of drama education.
Chinese translation to be added
Dates:
Submissions for SIGs Coordinator and themes: March 23rd, 2024.
Notification of acceptance: April 15, 2024.
What is a Special Interest Groups (SIG)?
The Special Interest Groups (SIGs) consist of a team of coordinators and a group of international teachers, researchers and artists that gather in a dialogue and exchange around an area of interest or research about relevant topics, challenges, aims, methods and approaches in drama/theatre and education. They are a way to structure the Congress Academic and Pedagogical Program to guarantee the continuity of IDEA’s policy, research and project development between world congresses.
Where do the SIGs take place?
The SIGs during the congress are ideally Live Circles of conversations. However, it is possible to create an Online Circle or even a hybrid one. Some groups could begin before the congress and even continue after the congress.
The coordinators will have a group of 10 to 20 researchers and artists in a classroom. The main goal of the coordinator is to rouse a conversation inviting the group to exchange their ideas that are being nurtured by the other activities during the congress.
How are they conformed?
The number of SIGs will vary from congress to congress, as the SIGs are also related to the specific Congress theme.
Moderators should propose dynamics and methodologies that help create connections between each participant's knowledge as the group bound around the subject of study. By the end of the congress each SIG presents some conclusions and highlights of potential areas for further exploration. The purpose of these calls to action is to inspire follow-up initiatives and collaborative projects among participants, fostering a continuous exchange of ideas beyond the congress itself.
Topics must align with the Congress themes which can be found on the IDEA2024 Congress website www.idea2024congress.org.
When do the SIGs take place?
SIGs have been a part of each IDEA world congress to date, offering participants the chance to meet three to four times during the Congress program. Some of them take place before, during and after a Congress.
Who participates in the SIGs?
The Congresses offer an opportunity for researchers and educators working in universities, schools, communities, NGOs and social movements in the hosting country and elsewhere to exchange information and experience, and to develop new collaborative activities or projects.
As criteria for selection for the Special Interest groups coordinator and subjects, the Congress Organizing Committee considers balancing diversity of topics, geography, gender, working areas in education, art education and contemporary research.
Why are SIGs an essential part of IDEA?
SIGs are working groups whose spirit is bringing together people that are moved by a similar interest; their goal is to inspire each other as participants or give new ideas to teachers, researchers and artists and also create networks connected with subjects that will contribute to the empowerment of drama education.
What is the difference between workshops and lectures and SIGs?
Workshops and lectures are experiences condensed in a certain and specific amount of time, SIG are expected to remind live for a while, even though by the end of the congress the participants have some conclusions, these are not final.
SIGs are meetings of experts from all over the world, who want to exchange their experiences and knowledge and expectations and methods according to a specific theme/topic/question. Therefore, the SIG-leaders are not "presenters"/"speakers"/"Workshop-facilitators", but only initiators and moderators.
Guidelines
What is a Special Interest Groups (SIG)?
The Special Interest Groups (SIGs) consist of a team of coordinators and a group of international teachers, researchers and artists that gather in a dialogue and exchange around an area of interest or research about relevant topics, challenges, aims, methods and approaches in drama/theatre and education. They are a way to structure the Congress Academic and Pedagogical Program to guarantee the continuity of IDEA’s policy, research and project development between world congresses.
Where do the SIGs take place?
The SIGs during the congress are ideally Live Circles of conversations. However, it is possible to create an Online Circle or even a hybrid one. Some groups could begin before the congress and even continue after the congress.
The coordinators will have a group of 10 to 20 researchers and artists in a classroom. The main goal of the coordinator is to rouse a conversation inviting the group to exchange their ideas that are being nurtured by the other activities during the congress.
How are they conformed?
The number of SIGs will vary from congress to congress, as the SIGs are also related to the specific Congress theme.
Moderators should propose dynamics and methodologies that help create connections between each participant's knowledge as the group bound around the subject of study. By the end of the congress each SIG presents some conclusions and highlights of potential areas for further exploration. The purpose of these calls to action is to inspire follow-up initiatives and collaborative projects among participants, fostering a continuous exchange of ideas beyond the congress itself.
When do the SIGs take place?
SIGs have been a part of each IDEA world congress to date, offering participants the chance to meet three to four times during the Congress program. Some of them take place before, during and after a Congress.
Dates:
Submissions for SIGs Coordinator and themes: March 23rd, 2024.
Notification of acceptance: March 8th, 2024.
Who participates in the SIGs?
The Congresses offer an opportunity for researchers and educators working in universities, schools, communities, NGOs and social movements in the hosting country and elsewhere to exchange information and experience, and to develop new collaborative activities or projects.
As criteria for selection for the Special Interest groups coordinator and subjects, the Congress Organizing Committee considers balancing diversity of topics, geography, gender, working areas in education, art education and contemporary research.
Why are SIGs an essential part of IDEA?
SIGs are working groups whose spirit is bringing together people that are moved by a similar interest; their goal is to inspire each other as participants or give new ideas to teachers, researchers and artists and also create networks connected with subjects that will contribute to the empowerment of drama education.
What is the difference between workshops and lectures and SIGs?
Workshops and lectures are experiences condensed in a certain and specific amount of time, SIG are expected to remind live for a while, even though by the end of the congress the participants have some conclusions, these are not final.
SIGs are meetings of experts from all over the world, who want to exchange their experiences and knowledge and expectations and methods according to a specific theme/topic/question. Therefore, the SIG-leaders are not "presenters"/"speakers"/"Workshop-facilitators", but only initiators and moderators.
Chinese translation to be added