Canadian Social Studies - Volume 38 - Scripted Drama Assessment in a Middle School Social Studies Class

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by SANS

Students use scripted drama assessment in a middle school social studies setting to connect learning across time, places, people, and situations. A science fiction essay and guided questions support reflection and discussion, followed by use of assessment guidelines and minimum excellence standards. Students receive scoring rubrics during project completion to demonstrate creativity and understanding, while classroom procedures emphasize planning, role allocation, and rubric-based group and whole-class debriefing.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction: Scripted Drama Assessment in a Middle School Social Studies Class

Procedure

Script planning and objectives

Rubric discussion and role play

Example

Exploring the Planet AMI

CANADIAN SOCIAL STUDIES VOLUME 38 NUMBER 2, WINTER 2004 [www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css](www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css) Scripted Drama Assessment in a Middle School Social Studies Class Ronald V. Morris Ball State University and Michael Welch Return to Articles Abstract Students who use drama assess their work through using a science fiction essay to help them look for and make connections between times, places, people, and situations. The students then use assessment guidelines to focus their ideas, stimulate their creativity, and demonstrate minimum standards of excellence. Finally, students have access to scoring rubrics as they complete their projects. Introduction: Scripted Drama Assessment in a Middle School Social Studies Class One seventh grade class uses drama nearly every day to improve individual student performance in social studies.1 The students study ancient world history content, and they read and act out the script. As the story unfolds students move into action in past times and places. Students find drama helpful in learning social studies content and developing thinking skills. Students also use structured role play to learn about people, place, and events form the past. Students empathize with characters from history in these events and spend time anticipating their actions and predicting their next words. Procedure Since students have multiple experience with drama in social studies class the teacher draws upon these experience to help students determine the next events in the lessons. The teacher uses assessment to help guide the instructional planning.2 For the action to unfold in the classroom requires substantial preparation from the teacher before instruction. First the teacher decides what instructional objectives to include in teaching a unit. After reading multiple sources the teacher writes guiding questions to consult in preparing the script. The questions range from factual recall to evaluation; then the teacher creates the script. The teacher injects the guiding questions into the margins ofthe play to get the students to reflect and discuss what they have read. Before the students start reading and acting out the play the students discuss the evaluation rubric. Next, the class chooses roles through a student run lottery and acts out the play. At the conclusion of the play the students form groups and discus the scoring rubric their teachers prepared and how they might make use of it. During these discussions students exchange ideas about the content, examples, and process they might use in answering the questions. Many times students work in small groups and exchange answers with several group before debriefing with the whole class. Example Students became the character everyday form the beginning to the unit to the assessment, and in a series of role plays students learned about the Age of Exploration. In this particular example the students learned about Spanish, French, Dutch, Portuguese, and English exploration of the Americas. The topics of the chapters included: early explorers, Cortes and Mexico, Spanish Explorers, and searching for the Northwest Passage. After the students acted out a scripted play on this topic, they were given the following science fiction article to read. Exploring the Planet AMI In the year 2050 one political nation exists on the surface of Earth, and all Earth people believe that only democracy allows each person a meaningful life. However, twenty billion people pack onto Earth's very crowded artificial islands, so that they do not waste land. The people of Earth find minerals scarce especially iron and uranium. People explored space for the last quarter century. No intelligent life other than that of Earth exists in the solar system, but a recent discovery led to a new way to power space ships, allowing people to travel to the stars. The advanced technology of 2050 also allows a space ship to monitor what occurs on a

FAQs

How do students use drama to assess their work in social studies?

Students assess their work by using a science fiction essay to find connections across times, places, people, and situations. They then apply assessment guidelines and minimum excellence standards while completing projects supported by rubrics.

What role do guided questions play in the scripted drama process?

The teacher prepares instructional objectives, writes guiding questions across factual recall to evaluation, and inserts those questions into the script margins. This prompts students to reflect and discuss what they read.

How is the rubric used during and after the scripted play?

Before students read and act out the play, the class discusses the evaluation rubric. After the play, students form groups to review the scoring rubric, exchange ideas on content and examples, and debrief with the whole class.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by SANS