Research Project: “Clear the Stage: School-Based Education in the Performing Arts and their Impact on Personality Development”

The project “Bühne frei” explores the impact of attending programmes of cultural education on personality traits of their participants. The project is funded by the Forschungsfond Kulturelle Bildung for a period of three and half years (10/2018-03/2022). The Forschungsfond is a project of the Rat für Kulturelle Bildung e.V., which is supported by the Mercator Stiftung and Karl Schlecht Stiftung.

Project part 2 (TEFL / English Department): “Wirkmechanismen des Darstellenden Spiels auf das sozial-emotionale Erleben von Schülerinnen und Schülern” (“Effects of the Performing Arts on the Socio-emotional Development of Students”).

Project part 2 analyses the influence, or effect, of drama activities on the personality development of students who attend English-speaking theatre clubs at school. Current research suggests that drama activities may promote the development of a range of social (e.g., tolerance), attitudinal (e.g., motivation), and socio-emotional (e.g., empathy) personality traits. However, earlier research has focused on drama programmes as a whole and investigated the effect of, for instance, a drama course, workshop, or club. To advance research, this project analytically divides a drama workshop into its structural elements and examines the effect of individual phases (e.g., warm-up, acting, reflection) and interpersonal aspects (e.g., scaffolding) of theatre play on its participants. As an empirical study, the project makes use of (quantitative) scales and instruments as well as (qualitative) interview surveys.
Project part 2 is conducted in cooperation with the Georg-Christoph-Lichtenberg-Gesamtschule, a comprehensive school in Göttingen, which offers two English-speaking theatre clubs (for grades 5/6 and 7-10) for each school term.
A synopsis of project part 1 is found on the website of the Psychology Department, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen Pädagogischen Psychologie der Georg-August-Universität Göttingen.