Engaging critical awareness through narrative and the body: Using Playback Theatre in a research project with interdisciplinary healthcare teams

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Research and Development in Higher Education Vol. 31: Engaging Communities

July, 2008, 389 pages
Published by
Mark Barrow & Kathryn Sutherland
ISBN
0 908557 73 6
Abstract 

Work in a university learning development centre alerted the author to the unprecedented diversity of students presenting as they begin their higher education studies. The cultural aspects of this diversity have seemed to be intractable, in many cases, with notably inequitable patterns of success and retention. Action methods have proved helpful in assisting students from a wide variety of backgrounds to engage more fully in their learning and this led to a research enquiry, looking at how a specific action approach, Playback Theatre, might assist interdisciplinary healthcare teams to communicate and discuss issues and events with each other. This enquiry is described and its findings around play, humour, emotion and perturbation are shared. Finally, action methods are proposed as an elegant and effective way of engaging groups in cooperative learning situations, both within higher education institutions and with community contexts.

Keywords: action methods, creativity, communication