The panoramic photographs of Manitoba landscapes in the website banners are used with the kind permission of © Stan Milosevic.

The “landscape” images and metaphor illustrated in the website banners represent current understandings about curriculum presented in the “Guiding Principles for WNCP Curriculum Framework Projects” (Western and Northern Canadian Protocol, 2011).

New ways of thinking about curriculum involve a “shift in the images we use, away from knowledge pictured as fragmented pieces put together, one piece at a time, in a linear fashion on an assembly line, to an image of knowledge as a complex organic network organized into living fields, territories or 'landscapes'. Learning about these living fields of knowledge requires: 'learning the landscape'.”

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Drama

Rationale for Drama Education

Drama is a vital part of every student's education and contributes to deep and enduring student engagement that leads to learning success. Drama education develops unique, powerful, and multiple ways of perceiving, interpreting, knowing, representing, and communicating understandings about self and the world. through drama experiences, students have opportunities to think creatively, explore ideas and feelings, and develop emerging personal, cultural, and social identities.

The social act of learning in drama develops a sense of community as students work collectively to explore story in a variety of ways. Participating in dramatic experiences enables students to explore ambiguity, to think imaginatively, innovatively, and with flexibility and empathy, and to feel confident with uncertainty and risk.

The Drama Framework promotes open-ended, divergent, and critical thinking through focused dialogue, action, and interaction. Mind, body, and spirit interact through drama to engage students profoundly as they seek meaning in the world around them. Through drama, students are empowered with the creative energies and sense of agency that are needed to consider diverse views and transform thinking and possibilities. Drama has the potential to promote responsibility and leadership and to prepare and inspire future citizens of the world to address the most critical challenges of their times.