A Study on the Effects of Creative Drama Education Given to Children Attending Nursery Class on Their Auditory Reasoning and Processing Skills*

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the effects of creative drama education on auditory reasoning and processing skills of children attending nursery classes. Pretest-posttest control group experimental design was used in the study. The research sample consisted of a total of 30 children, of whom 15 were in the experimental group and 15 were in the control group. After the administration of the pretest, the children in the experimental group were given Creative Drama education for 12 weeks in sessions of 45 minutes twice a week. “Auditory Reasoning and Processing Skills Test”, which was developed by Gardner (1993) and adapted by Erbay (2009) to Turkish children aged 6, was used as the data collection tool. The data obtained were analyzed by using SPSS 15.00. Research findings indicated that creative drama education improved children’s auditory reasoning and processing skills and that this improvement was permanent. Although improvement was also observed in the skills of the control group children, it was concluded that this improvement was statistically insignificant.