European Journal of Education Studies ISSN: 2501 - 1111 ISSN-L: 2501 - 1111 Available on-line at: www.oapub.org/edu doi: 10.5281/zenodo.841806 Volume 3 │ Issue 8 │ 2017 AN EXAMPLE OF PREPARED-PLANNED CREATIVE DRAMA IN SECOND GRADE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION Nesrin Özsoyi, Sinan Özyer, Nesibe Akdeniz, Ayşenur Alkoç Adnan Menderes University, Education Faculty, Aydın, Turkey Abstract: The aim of this research is teaching addition with natural numbers and the concept of large and small natural numbers in the second grade mathematics course, through creative drama method. The study has been applied to 31 elementary school second grade students studying at a public school in the province of Aydın. In this research, case study based on observation method, which is one of the qualitative research methods, has been employed. The data have been collected through drama lesson plans, observation, and interview methods. The activities involving the acquisitions of ''adding two-digit natural numbers'' and ''absorbing large-small concepts'' prepared by the researcher, have been applied in the classroom. The drawings of students, literary notes, and observation reports kept by researchers have been used in the evaluation of the activity. As a result of this application, students' views towards the questions covering the whole application have been gathered. The results of the study suggest that prepared-planned creative drama activities are an entertaining and enjoyable way for students to learn. The notes taken by the participative observers and findings obtained from the interviews indicate that drama activities increase sharing among students and that the students could associate what they have learned with some of the situations they encounter in their every day-life. It is observed that the students learn by having more fun while playing games, which involves a high amount of physical movements. Drawing the attention of students through instructions in the warm-up phase of the activity increased students' curiosity in learning. In the animation phase of the activity, it was observed that the students' interest in the mathematics increased, they had fun while making the mathematical operations, their participation to the Copyright © The Author(s). All Rights Reserved. © 2015 – 2017 Open Access Publishing Group 516 Nesrin Özsoy, Sinan Özyer, Nesibe Akdeniz, Ayşenur Alkoç AN EXAMPLE OF PREPARED-PLANNED CREATIVE DRAMA IN SECOND GRADE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION lesson was high throughout the activity, the energy they received from the lesson was at the maximum level, they learned by doing and living, and they obtained an experience they could use in their every day-life. In the evaluation phase of the activity, the students were asked to describe how they felt by drawing a picture or writing a story as a summary of the creative drama activity they experiences by doing. According to the stories they have written and the pictures they have drawn, it is apparent that they were entertained and happy throughout the activity. The results of this study indicate that the students relieve their mental exhaustion and a relaxed classroom setting is achieved through the relaxation activities. Keywords: creative drama, addition, concepts of large-small, mathematics teaching 1. Introduction In the information age 21st century, alternative teaching methods have replaced traditional teaching methods. In alternative teaching methods, students are absorbed in the teaching and given the opportunity to structure themselves. Alternative teaching methods do not only increase the academic success of the students, but also increase their awareness and improve their certain social skills such as problem-solving and planning. Drama is one of the methods used in acquiring these skills. Drama is an activity carried out within the framework of workshop activities and consists of dramatization, animation, and improvisation phases, which also includes the theoretical dimension. Workshop activities are conducted under the guidance of a leader and with the participation of a group. Drama is defined as a process, which involves the directive of a leader and group interaction Morg(l, 1 5 and Üst(ndağ, 1998). Drama is divided into categories such as educational drama, psychodrama, sociodrama, and creative drama. In a group work like creative drama, in which theatre or drama techniques such as improvisation and role-playing are used, individuals animate and make sense of the processes similar to games, during which they revise their observations, experiences, emotions, and sometimes an abstract concept of a behavior by recollecting previous cognitive patterns (San, 2002). While performing creative drama activities, mainly art education, in terms of the content, and all departments of education are benefitted. It can create content for itself by availing itself from many fields such as photography, music, sculpture, poetry, stories, sociology, and psychological basis of education Üst(ndağ, 1 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 8 │ 2017 . Drama, which 517 Nesrin Özsoy, Sinan Özyer, Nesibe Akdeniz, Ayşenur Alkoç AN EXAMPLE OF PREPARED-PLANNED CREATIVE DRAMA IN SECOND GRADE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION acknowledges learning by living as its main principle, works as a step for children towards achieving physical, social, rational-mathematical knowledge. Mathematics is a strongly gradual lesson. It is not possible to learn a subject without learning the previous subject. Therefore, fundamental concepts or operation knowledge must be adopted in the best manner and the permanence of the instructed material must be ensured. The most effective way of these type of learnings is by doing and living. It is possible to make it happen through creative drama (Özsoy, 2010). Creative drama is an effective teaching method in teaching mathematics lessons, keeps students active throughout the process of learning, promotes students to solve problems on their own or with a group, supports raising independent learners, raises creative individuals, and includes many methods such as question-answer, discover, and discussion that are among the new approaches (Soner, 2005). For downloading the full article, please access the following link: http://oapub.org/edu/index.php/ejes/article/view/946 European Journal of Education Studies - Volume 3 │ Issue 8 │ 2017 518