Elementary Education Online, 13(2), 468‐480, 2014. İlköğretim Online, 13(2), 468‐480, 2014. [Online]: http://ilkogretim‐online.org.tr Review of Research on Drama in Turkish Schools and Pre-service Teacher Education Sibel AKIN * ABSTRACT. The purpose of this study was to analyze and synthesize national research studies on drama in pre- service teacher education and primary or secondary schools in terms of their purpose, methodology, and findings. Considerable part of 42 studies demonstrated that they mainly aimed to investigate the effects of drama on mathematics, science and technology, social sciences, and languages. On the other hand, a small number of them were carried out with pre-service teachers, revealing that they primarily focused on the attitudes and views of pre- service teachers and their improvement through drama. Majority of the research employed quantitative methodologies. Based on the findings and international research on drama, implications were discussed for further research and practice. Keywords: Drama, instructional method, education, Turkey INTRODUCTION Ever-increasing changes in the world, new requirements of globalization, and longstanding problems in the system of education have made it difficult to enhance the quality of education (Gedikoğlu, 2005). In addition, the rapid development in information technologies has compelled governments to continually revise their system of education in order to have individuals with desired characteristics (Gürol, 2003; Karakaya, 2007). In this regard, reform in traditional perspectives has been inevitable and the importance of applying learner-centered contemporary approaches has increased to bring up creative students. Correspondingly, drama is one of the contemporary methods in education. It is commonly defined as a teaching method which improves individuals’ learning by providing a fictional environment in which they can bring their past experiences, feelings, and their body into action through playing roles (Ekeberg, Lepp, & Dahlberg, 2004; San, 1996; Sternberg, 1998). With respect to Adıgüzel (2009), various concepts are used with similar meanings to refer to the “drama” concept; however, “creative drama in education” is the mostly recognized concept since this term not only points the tool-method aspect but also covers the specific course-objective and aesthetic education aspects. The roots of the drama method go back to England. In the very early times, use of drama method was an obligation, especially in language courses for the development of one’s verbal and written expression skills in mother language (Akar, 2000; Bowell, 1993). In the study of Baturay and Özbek (2009), it is mentioned that Harriet Finlay Johnson, who was a history teacher, was the first implementer of this method in classroom setting in 1911. However, till that time many people favored the features of drama which had not been named yet. For instance, Plato appeared as a figure who was associated with some characteristics of this method in Ancient Greek times. He suggested that learners should be the starting point in education. Rousseau also highlighted the importance of children’s feelings and opinions and underlined the self-experiences of learners in his book called “Emilie”. In the historical journey of drama, French revolution took another important place since it revealed the essentiality of individualism, equality, freedom, and intelligence. The rise of these concepts set the stage for many improvements in education. In 1900s, Freud underlined the significance of games. From this time on, therapy with games started to have a central role in the history of medicine, as well. Moreover, Italian Maria Montessori was an outstanding figure in 1900s in terms of child development. Furthermore, in 1910, Henry Coldwell Cook claimed that the only thing that was worth applying in schools is the use of games instead of memorization. Except those in the world, Dewey was also another scholar who stressed child-centered * Middle East Technical University, Department of Educational Sciences, siakin@metu.edu.tr