Theaters as Teaching Environments
Welcome to Theaters as Teaching Environments, an arts-based educational action research project supported by the University of Lapland and hosted within Visual Arena’s Residency for Innovators in Art.
Led by Salti Theodora, a doctoral candidate at the University of Lapland, this project seeks to explore how educational spaces beyond the regular university classroom, such as theaters, can be utilised in the teaching process and motivate participants to experience how the physical environment can contribute to their teaching as a third educator.
The Project
How can physical spaces—particularly theaters—interact with human beings in a way that enhances teaching practices? In this project, we delve into how materials such as sound, light, and stage objects communicate with participants during drama pedagogical sessions. Through five sessions spread over two months educators and teacher training students will engage in immersive, hands-on explorations of how the theater's environment can act as a "third educator".
Participants will experiment with sound and lighting, props, and materials, using drama pedagogical techniques such as role-playing, improvisation, and scenography.
Visual Arena, with its visual and multi sensory tools, is the platform for this research, enabling participants to step into worlds that expand traditional classrooms—whether it’s recreating a sea, forest, or garden environment.
The Goals
- Innovative Pedagogy: Broaden our understanding of the relationship between physical space and teaching through drama pedagogy.
- Early Childhood Education: Equip future educators with the skills to use the theater as a teaching tool, offering new ways to engage students beyond traditional classroom settings.
- Collaboration and Experimentation: Strengthen collaborative bridges between educational programs and cultural institutions like theaters, allowing for rich, multisensory educational environments.
- Empowerment through Space: Enable educators to shift their practice outside the traditional classroom, utilizing the environment as a “third educator” to deepen learning experiences.
Results and insights so far
Professional Development through Drama Pedagogy and Educational Staging
The participants in the project, consisting of both preschool teachers and primary school teachers, experienced drama pedagogy combined with educational staging as a completely new tool that they had not previously had the opportunity to work with. Many of them described feeling braver and better equipped to integrate these methods into their teaching.
During the project, the participants explored various aesthetic forms of expression and drama pedagogical strategies such as dance, drawing, writing-in-role, teacher-in-role, puppet-making, and improvisation, while gaining a deeper understanding of how these can be integrated with stories, materials, and educational staging in teaching.
“In a strange way, I have to say that I feel braver. That I have been able to enter and exit roles, reflect, listen, understand, take it with me to the preschool, live it out, laugh, cry, marvel, learn, and realize that I can, dare, and definitely want the children I meet in my profession to experience this form of expression,”
says Anna, preschool teacher.
Personal Development through Drama Pedagogy and Educational Staging
Several participants also experienced that their personal creative skills were strengthened and their communicative repertoire enriched by exploring different forms of expression and daring to try various aesthetic learning processes. The participants expressed that the staged environment—with materials, lighting, sound, and visualization—interacting with the story, stimulated their imagination and enabled them to step into different roles.
“The atmosphere was magical! It created safety for everyone, which meant we were never limited in exploring the different elements. Dorina is so responsive, curious, and clear,”
says Lisa, preschool teacher.
Another preschool teacher, Yolanda, described how the surrounding environment enhanced her ability to immerse herself in the stories created:
“The surrounding environment with bird sounds, lighting, and staging of nature strengthened my ability to deepen my engagement with the story.”
“All my senses are triggered and for a moment I ‘forget’ myself and everything else happening in life and just exist in these worlds with my friends.” – Anna, preschool teacher.
– Anna, förskollärare.
Environmental Awareness through Drama Pedagogy and Educational Staging
A central aspect of the project was how participants, through dramatic roles and staged environments, could develop a deeper understanding of nature and environmental awareness. By stepping into the roles of different creatures from nature, they concretely experienced the challenges these beings face.
The participants’ insights during the project showed how drama pedagogy combined with the staged environment can be a powerful tool to step into roles, broaden perspectives, and increase both environmental awareness and empathy for other beings.
“Describing what the flower would say, by becoming this flower that is alone in the garden, was enlightening. I think about the importance of being able to take such roles through drama. We humans usually don’t have such roles. We have power. Cutting out the flowers was a shock… when Dorina picked up all the flowers it was also a shocking moment… It was a concrete way to experience the problem. Concrete experiences are important for my students,”
explains Danai, primary school teacher.
Summary and Future Plans
The project has already demonstrated great progress in both the participants’ professional and personal development as well as their ability to integrate drama pedagogy and educational staging in their teaching. A longer film summarizing the entire project will soon be shown at Visual Arena, and additional research articles are in production.
The researcher Theodora Salti, who leads the project, looks forward to continuing to develop and spread these methods in school environments and theatres and hopes that more educators will have the opportunity to use drama pedagogy and educational staging in the future.
At Visual Arena, we believe in pushing the boundaries of what spaces can offer. Theaters are spaces where multisensory experiences come to life, and this project seeks to unlock their potential as teaching environments. Visual Arena’s technology allows participants to experience and shape these environments in new ways, fostering innovation that can be applied directly in educational settings.
Our Residency for Innovators in Art offers a platform for artists, educators, and researchers to collaborate, experiment, and create. Theaters as Teaching Environments is a perfect example of how we bridge art, design, and technology to drive innovation.
Residency for innovators in ART
Martin Högenberg
Want to know more about this project or get involved?
Are you a preschool teacher, drama pedagogue, museum educator, librarian, primary school teacher or teacher training student? You are welcome to participate in the research project Theatres as teaching environments.
If you want to join, contact:
Theodora Salti
E-mail: saltitheodora@gmail.com
LinkedIn: Theodora Salti
Instagram: konstpedagogisk_handledare
Explore our Residency for Innovators in Art to learn more about upcoming opportunities!
