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.

Objectives 

In this project, where the art of drama meets the visual arts, participants can gain deeper, multisensory, and pedagogical experiences. They will learn from experienced personnel, for instance, a drama educator and theater staff, how to use the theater’s environment (sound and light systems, props, and objects like fabrics, natural, and recyclable materials) while experimenting with different drama pedagogical techniques. These techniques include process drama, getting into a role, improvisation with materials, scenography, puppet shows, and puppet making. This experience might help participants become more familiar with using the pedagogical environment as a third educator, collaborating and visiting theaters, or even shifting their teaching to different environments outside the regular classroom, offering their future pupils, enriched opportunities for learning and exploration.

Thus, this project aims to broaden our understanding of teaching environments by building collaborative bridges between education university programs and theaters. It shifts lections from university classrooms to theater settings, where participants experience how the physical environment can contribute to their teaching as a third educator. 

In Visual Arena, participants can experiment with the environment and create new teaching worlds thanks to its multisensory materiality and multimodality, where lighting and sound systems are more advanced than in a regular university classroom. This will be achieved by stepping into different imaginary worlds such as sea, garden, and forest environments, through drama pedagogical processes, and with the help of visuals, scenography, and interaction with various objects and props. The study further aims to observe interactions and possible transformations in both the environment and participants (personally and professionally) while exploring the potential impacts that may lead to future collaborations between education university programs and theaters.

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.