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Science and DramaDateline: 12th November, 2001The Wellcome Trust, a charitable foundation set up by the biomedical research company Wellcome, is attempting to get school children thinking about the ethical problems of modern developments in biomedical research - genetic engineering (including cloning) and mental health in particular - by linking together science and drama. Science CentreStage is a national project involving 100 secondary schools, ten from each of ten regions. Each school is to create a piece of drama centring on the ethical or social problems raised by modern biomedical developments. Eight students from each school, together with a science and drama teacher, attend a full-day workshop, and then go away to create their own 20-minute play. Six from each region will then be invited to take part in regional festivals, and six of these will go forward to the national festival, to be held either in London or Birmingham. The Workshops The workshops, for the students, consist of a long warm-up session, taken by two professional actors in which science ideas are expressed through drama exercises, followed by a discussion/inprovisation session in four groups. Each group takes a different topic and two students from each school go into each group. Then comes lunch, and afterwards each school group chooses a topic and creates a short performance piece, which is then performed for everyone. The staff have a different timetable. They begin the day with a Have I Got Science News for You game, in which they are joined by a group of scientists. Then they rejoin the students and take part in the discussion/impro session. After lunch they leave the students to their own work and do the "business bit", looking at the next stage, clearing up schools' expenses claims, and so on. Finally, they rejoin the students for the performances. Money The Trust has recognised one major obstacle to schools' taking part in this kind of activity - money! Having two members of staff out of school for a day with only eight students is very uneconomic. Obviously if a member of staff is absent, someone else has to cover his/her classes, which means that colleagues lose their non-contact time - of which they have very little! Getting in supply teachers to cover is expensive, so te Trust is giving £200 to each participating school, specifically for supply cover. In addition it is making a contribution towards travelling expenses. Although £200 is less than the cost of supply cover for two staff for a day, it nonetheless makes it a more attractive proposition for the school and so over 240 schools nationwide applied for one of the one hundred places available. Those who were selected were chosen on the basis of their reasons for wanting to attend, as expressed on the application form. The first stage is now complete, and within days of this article appearing, schools must submit details of their planned performances so that decisions about who can go forward to the regional festivals can be made. My school was one of the hundred selected, and we attended the workshop in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Go to the next page to find out our reactions to the workshop. Articles Indices: |