Being trees: What can storytelling and drama offer to students’ ecological understanding and citizenship?

This chapter explores the possibilities of interweaving drama and storytelling with mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) and Western science to foster students’ ecological understanding and citizenship in relation to ngahere ora (forest health).

Our examples of practice come from Toitū Te Ngahere, a participatory, arts-based research project focused on raising awareness of and engagement with two plant pathogens that are threatening native tree species in Aotearoa New Zealand, kauri dieback and myrtle rust. Over two years, the project has worked with five schools to develop, inform and carry out inquiry projects, which involved the children creating artworks to raise awareness of forest health in their communities. In this chapter, we focus on the ways teachers and students (aged 5–14 years) incorporated drama, storytelling and performance into their inquiry projects.

We consider each example in relation to mātauranga Māori connected to storytelling and Western drama education scholarship, to explore the capacity of drama and storytelling to engender creativity and agency in relation to forest health issues, involving children in important forms of creative eco-citizenship.