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alternative energy
applied theatre
education outreach
forum theatre
shadow puppets
solar education
Enacting an energy forum using solar power-illuminated shadow puppets can serve
as an effective method for actively engaging Navajo students in understanding the
applicability and relevance of alternative energy in their lives and their communi-
ties. This article focuses on an education/outreach project that took place over the
course of two days in a science classroom at Thoreau High School (THS) in Thoreau,
New Mexico, with predominantly Navajo students. The education/outreach project
described in this article is attempting to energize the National Science Education
Standards for scientific literacy within the Navajo Nation with a dynamic and inter-
active artistic medium – solar-powered shadow puppet theatre – that is uniquely
suited to the study of alternative energy. It not only supports scientific literacy, but
also casts the students as authors of solutions to student-identified energy issues
specific to their lives, their land and their concerns.
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Enacting an energy forum using solar-power illuminated shadow puppets
can serve as an effective method for actively engaging Navajo students in
understanding the applicability and relevance of alternative energy in their
lives and their communities. This article focuses on an education/outreach
project that took place over the course of two days as part of a high school
science classroom in a small town in New Mexico, with predominantly
Navajo students. Solar-powered shadow play is achieved by manipulating
shadow puppets between a solar-powered light and a cloth screen, such that
the shadows are cast onto the screen. The audience, on the other side of the
screen, can view the shadows that are cast by the puppets and can easily hear
the voice given to the puppet by the performer. Puppets are created to repre-
sent various stakeholders in energy issues within the students’ own commu-
nity, such as the Coal Burning Plant Owner or the Voice of the Children.
The drama improvised by the students through the shadow puppet charac-
ters is an energy forum seeking to resolve an energy issue that is identified
by the students as being relevant to their community. This artform literally
uses solar power to illuminate myriad perspectives on energy access, use,
impact and governance. Not only do students get hands-on experience with
solar technology, but they are also engaged in high-level learning and criti-
cal engagement through the act of identifying, researching and dialoguing
Figure 1: Manipulating shadow puppets behind the screen dramatizing an energy
forum.
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various views about energy access. This method can be used to satisfy core
requirements within the science curriculum that requires students to apply
what they have learned about alternative energy in the classroom to their
own lives.
Teaching our young generations about energy efficiency and renewable
energy is not only a critical component of environmental literacy; it has also
become a matter of national security and economic stability. In times of reces-
sion, political instability and fluctuating energy prices, it is essential that we
understand the role energy plays in our lives so that we can become proactive
change agents towards a more sustainable energy future (Ford 2002: 2).
For the Navajo Nation, this is especially true since so much of the current
economy is based on extraction of energy resources – namely coal and
uranium – and the generation of energy from these resources. Jobs and reve-
nue from energy production are issues central to the Navajo Nation. Energy
mining and production are likewise responsible for devastating environmen-
tal and health damages, such as contamination of water tables, pollution and
scarring of the land from strip mining. Energy-generating stations from coal,
such as the 2250-megawatt Navajo Generating Station near Page, Arizona,
create massive amounts of air pollution (Hurlbut and National Renewable
Energy Laboratory 2012). Citizen advocacy groups, such as the Black Mesa
Water Coalition, are encouraging the adoption of more renewable energy
development that they claim will supply just as many jobs and as much
revenue as coal (Black Mesa Water Coalition 2014). Multiple studies have
found astonishing potential for both solar and wind energy production by the
Navajo Nation (Johns 2013).
Awareness and education about renewable energy is essential to begin
making this shift to clean energy. Although there are many clean or alter-
native energy curricula available, such as Solar in the Schools (Solar Energy
International 2013), the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon (US
Department of Energy 2013) and – more specific to the New Mexico area – a
list of possible activities in the New Mexico Energy and Sustainability Education
Directory (Ford 2002), we were not able to locate any that utilized theatre,
which is a dynamic form of active learning (Gressler 2002). Research shows
that active learning helps develop critical thinking (Bonwell and Elison 1991),
which we believe will serve the Navajo youth as they apply what they learn
about alternative energy in their high school science courses to the energy
challenges they identify in their own lives.
The medium of shadow puppet theatre was chosen for several reasons.
First, using a solar-powered light as the light source gives students direct
experience with this alternative energy technology. They gain hands-on
experience with the use, strength and applicability of a small-scale solar
powered light. The shadow puppet performance can also be understood
as a sort of microcosm of our solar system. The sun’s energy – represented
by the solar-powered light – is the source of nearly all other energy forms,
just as the solar-powered light is the source of illumination that makes the
entire show possible. As stated in the Michigan Environmental Education
Curriculum (2013):
All the energy in oil, gas, and coal originally came from the sun, captured
through photosynthesis. In the same way that we burn wood to release
energy that trees capture from the sun, we burn fossil fuels to release
the energy that ancient plants captured from the sun. We can think of
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this energy as having been deposited in a natural solar power bank over
millions of years.
This could be likened to the battery that collects the energy from the sun through
the solar panel and stores that energy for later to power the solar-powered
light. This comparison between the sun’s energy and solar shadow puppet
theatre could serve as a compelling introduction by the teacher as to why
this form is an appropriate and effective medium through which students can
actively explore alternative energy forms, especially solar energy.
While performing behind the shadow screen, students are unseen by
their audience, which seems to lessen the self-consciousness of the students
and allow them to be more expressive than they may be if in full view.
Also, the use of puppets can make it easier for otherwise reserved people
(which is how the teachers described many of their Navajo students) to be
expressive. There is a separation between the self and the puppet as the
performing body, which can give the experience that it is the puppet, not
the person, actually performing. Also, the physical dexterity required to
effectively manipulate a puppet is consuming and can leave little room for
self-consciousness. Our final reason for utilizing solar-powered shadow
puppetry is that the elements for performance are capable of creating an
enticing visual spectacle, yet are inexpensive, compact and accessible. They
consist of the solar-powered light, a sheet of white cloth and recycled card-
stock for making the shadow puppets.
This project was developed through a cooperative effort between the
University of Colorado (CU), a non-profit organization, Eagle Energy, a
Navajo environmental group, Eastern Navajo Uranium Workers (ENUW),
and a local high school, and especially one specific science teacher. Funding
for this project was from CU’s Outreach Program. Beth Osnes, Assistant
Professor of Theatre at CU, specializes in the use of applied theatre for clean
energy awareness and presented her shadow puppet theatre musical, Clean
Energy Access: The Musical, for an all-school assembly in April 2012, just one
month before the intervention that is the subject of this article. Angela Hunt,
a PhD theatre student and a high school teacher, joined Osnes in design-
ing this project in the spring of 2012. John-David Johnson – who had previ-
ously taught in a grade school in the Navajo Nation and is also a PhD theatre
student – assisted in implementing the education/outreach project, primarily
serving as the facilitator during the energy forums. Navajo Eagle Energy staff
members advised on the conception, development and execution of much of
this project. The CU team was present in two of the science teacher’s class-
rooms – a total of 65 students – for two consecutive days in May 2012 at the
completion of their study of alternative energy. Students ranged in age from
15–20 years. We documented this project by having Osnes take notes during
the session and through photography. Hunt wrote about her impressions after
the sessions. We also conducted a key informant interview with the science
teacher before and after the project.
The Navajo Nation, otherwise known as Diné Bikéyah, or Navajoland, extends
into the Southwestern US states of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah, cover-
ing almost 7000 hectares, and is North America’s largest native community
(Iverson and Roessel 2002). Due to multiple factors, economic hardship is
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pervasive throughout the nation. According to the most recent data avail-
able through the Navajo Nation, in 2001 the unemployment rate was 42.16
per cent, per capita income was US$6625 and 42.9 per cent of the popula-
tion was living below the poverty line (Navajo Nation Economic Development
2013). The website for Eagle Energy claims that about 38 per cent of house-
holds in the Navajo Nation lack electricity and, ‘despite requests for modern,
grid-based power, the remote location of many Navajo households makes
electricity extremely expensive, forcing many people to rely on wood and kero-
sene for energy’ (Eagle Energy 2013a). In homes without access to electricity,
kerosene is the primary fuel used for illumination at night. Multiple risks are
associated with fuel-based lighting, including burns, indoor air pollution and
non-intentional ingestion of kerosene fuel by children (Mills 2012: 2).
This education/outreach project took place in a small rural town in New
Mexico in the Eastern Agency. Due to the various ways of allotting and classi-
fying Navajo Land within the designated reservation boundaries, the eastern
border became a patchwork of reservation and non-reservation land, known
as a ‘chequerboard area’ (Wilkins 2003: 58). It falls within that chequerboard
area, so that the high school is actually a New Mexico district school rather
than a Bureau of Indian Education School. In 2012, school officials at the
high school reported that there were 353 students at their school and that
93 per cent of them were Navajo. Additionally, the most recently available
information indicated that 17 per cent of the students lived in homes that did
not have access to electricity. School officials noted that many more students
in homes with access to the electrical grid might lack financial resources to
consistently pay their electrical bills, and thus would also intermittently be
without access to electricity.
Figure 2: Map of the Navajo Nation in the United States.
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Our main goal was to develop an education/outreach activity for a high school
science classroom using solar-powered shadow puppet theatre as a tool for
students to explore the applicability and relevance of alternative energy in their
lives and their community. We designed this two-day project for students to
actively consider energy issues that they identified from a variety of perspec-
tives. This all took place within the classroom, and was focused primarily on
the process of performing the energy forum, rather than creating a polished
finished performance.
We aligned our goals for this activity with several benchmark-learning
objectives from the New Mexico Grades 9–12 Science Standards for instruc-
tion in alternative energy (New Mexico 2003), especially Strand III: Science and
Society, in which 9–12 Benchmark I states ‘examine and analyze how scien-
tific discoveries and their application affect the world, and explain how socie-
ties influence scientific investigation and applications’ (New Mexico 2003: 13).
Additional goals included leading students in evaluating the influences of tech-
nology – such as petroleum and nuclear energy – on their society, and in describ-
ing how human activity affects health and the environment. This project also
invited students to describe how scientific knowledge helps decision-makers
with local, national and global challenges, explain how societies can change
ecosystems and describe how environmental, economic and political interests
impact resource management and use in New Mexico (New Mexico 2003: 13).
There is currently legislation in New Mexico to adopt the Next Generation
Science Standards (National Research Council 2014b), which is a Carnegie
Foundation-funded attempt to update national standards for science educa-
tion. Future work within New Mexico would need to align with those stand-
ards if they were adopted. However, even the Next Generation Science
Standards could still be easily aligned with this project – namely, PS3.D:
Energy in Chemical Processes and Everyday Life, ESS3.A: Natural Resources ,
ETS1.A: Defining Engineering Problems (National Research Council 2014a).
In designing how to achieve these goals, we grounded ourselves in the educa-
tional theories of Brazilian Paulo Freire, the author of Pedagogy of the Oppressed
(2000). Freire questions the ‘banking concept of education’ in which knowl-
edge is deposited into students’ minds by oppressive educational systems that
treat students as objects (2000: 72). In contrast, he advocates a problem-solving
style of education that encourages dialogue between teachers and students, and
that engages students in critical thinking. Freire insists that a dialogic relation-
ship between teacher and student is necessary for transformation to a critical
consciousness. Our goal was that our central activity – the Energy Forum –
would facilitate this dialogue between students and their teacher.
We also sought to align our work within Navajo values – primarily led
in this by our Navajo partners – and to lead students in the development of
problem-solving abilities in the context of culturally relevant experiences and
topics related to alternative energy. Through our energy forum, we designed
the student experience so that students would face both positive and nega-
tive consequences of interactions between various stakeholders in the
energy forum, so that traditional Navajo notions of K e – kinship solidarity
and social harmony – would be included in the process (Austin 2007: 12).
In our design of this educational outreach project, we strove to achieve the
conditions described in the article ‘Classroom Inquiry and Navajo Learning
Styles’ (McCarty et al. 1991), such as ‘where talk is shared between teachers
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and students, where the expression of students’ ideas is sought and clearly
valued, where student’s social environment is meaningfully incorporated into
curricular content, and where students are encouraged to use their cultural
and linguistic resources to solve new problems’ (1991: 53).
Our choice of a forum was greatly influenced by Augusto Boal (1931–2009),
a theatre scholar and practitioner who was heavily influenced by Freire’s work.
In his book, Theatre of the Oppressed, Boal (1985) advocates for a consciousness-
raising form of theatre that encourages dialogic opportunities for communities
not usually engaged in critical analysis of their own lives, or the structures that
influence and limit their lives. In this form of theatre, the interactive process is
more important that the resulting product. Indeed, in many cases as with this
activity, there is no culminating public performance; the learning objectives
are realized through the benefits that result from engagement in the process.
Boal’s methods include forum theatre, in which those who witness a scene are
encouraged to critique the solution offered and suggest better versions, which
are then acted out either by the actors or the spectators. Given that we were
working with shadow puppets rather than live actors, we adjusted Boal’s basic
idea for forum theatre.
We met with the high school principal and arranged for several aspects of
our outreach in the schools: an all-school assembly performance of Clean
Energy Access: The Musical performed by high school and university students
on 20 April 2012, a solar lights checkout system through the school library
so students could check out a small-scale solar-powered light to take home
for a week (Eagle Energy 2013b) and an interactive solar-powered shadow
puppet energy forum with the science teacher on 17 and 18 May 2012. This
article focuses solely on the last aspect of our outreach efforts. However, it
should be noted that all the high school students who attended school on
20 April 2012 – which included the students in the science classes with which
we worked – witnessed the performance of Clean Energy Access: The Musical,
and were introduced to the artistic medium of shadow puppet theatre and
how it could be used to explore energy issues. The student response to this
performance was extremely positive – most likely because it included several
fellow students in the cast and a popular football player in the lead role as
the Sun. The library solar light checkout system was intended to make solar
technology available for students to experience and use with their families
at home. Unfortunately, the solar lights checkout system through the school
library was not operative when we did the energy forum. Even though Eagle
Energy volunteers had delivered the solar lights to the school librarian weeks
earlier, and explained how students could check out the lights, the work had
not yet been done to ensure the lights had been checked.
Osnes and Hunt had provided the science teacher with a home energy
survey that we designed for the students to complete with their families to
assess their current energy needs, access and use, and their desired energy
access and use. The survey was specifically designed to be gender sensi-
tive – that is, to consider both genders’ perspectives and values regarding
energy use and access (see Appendix 1). In addition to filling out the survey
as homework, each student was to check out a Nokero solar-powered light
(Nokero 2013) to take home for their family to interact with, use and consider
its appropriateness for their energy needs. An Eagle Energy volunteer had
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delivered the lights to the science teacher two weeks prior to our visit. Our
hope was that this would engage multiple families throughout the area in
the issue of energy access and possible clean energy solutions. Our intention
was for students to complete the surveys before we arrived so they could use
the results of the home energy survey as material for the energy forum they
would be performing in class. This survey was intended to be a mechanism,
in part, for including and honouring the traditional gendered knowledge of
the community members who have generations of experience of and exper-
tise in energy issues in the area (Wildcat 2009). When we arrived for our first
day in the classroom, we learned that very few students had completed any
part of the Home Energy Survey, probably because it was not being graded,
even though we had previously been assured that it would count towards
students’ grades. This may have been due to the fact that we came to visit
their classes so close to the end of the school year. Therefore, we had to rely
on the students’ knowledge of their energy access concerns, since we would
not be able to draw upon the responses to the surveys.
The instructional process for Day 1 focused on preparing the students to
participate in the energy forum on Day 2. In order for this to occur successfully,
we chose to begin our workshop with several ice-breaker/theatre games, to help
the students become more comfortable using their voices and bodies in the learn-
ing environment. We began with the Name/Action Game, in which participants
stand in a circle and take turns saying their names while also doing an action.
The game is completed when each participant can say their name while doing
the action of the other participants in the group. Although most of the students
initially seemed reluctant to participate actively – especially the female students –
their engagement in the class activity was aided by the enthusiastic participation
of what one might describe as the ‘class clown’. These games seemed absolutely
necessary, and for both classes we found that it took more ‘warming up’ than
expected to help the students become more outwardly expressive.
Hunt explained that the students would be performing an energy forum
using shadow puppets. Because many students were not familiar with the term
‘forum’, we found it helpful to spend roughly ten to fifteen minutes brain-
storming definitions for this word. To help students see the value of theatre
and open forum discussions, Hunt decided to provide a brief background to
the work of Augusto Boal. Some students seemed intrigued by this, espe-
cially when they connected his work with the way many of them felt when
they were not able to share their voices on important issues in their commu-
nity. During this period of the workshop, we tried to emphasize the idea of
rehearsing democracy, and the value of rehearsing the expression of various
stakeholders’ perspectives in a respectful forum where all could have their
views and values considered.
The students’ ideas were written on the board and the class reached a
consensus on their class definition of ‘forum’. Also valuable was a discussion
on the necessity of forums related to energy issues. Hunt asked why the class-
room should have a forum on energy, and what aspects should be considered.
With coaching from Hunt, the students were able to generate the following
questions for possible use during their energy forum the next day:
What forms of energy will contribute to the economy of our community?
How will forms of energy effect our environment?
How can we best use our natural resources to benefit our community?
What forms of energy currently exist in our community?
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What type of energy suits the geography?
What are the local resources?
What is the cleanest form of energy for the community?
What is the safest?
What is the most economic?
What is the best?
Each class successfully identified specific energy issues relevant to its commu-
nity and the lives of its members. The first class chose to consider a 5 per cent
tax increase to create a local solar energy farm. The second class chose to
consider the economic value of mine work and the health risks for workers
and the environment. In order to dramatize a forum considering these issues,
Hunt led the students in creating the ‘guest list’ for it that was not limited
to human members of the community. What follows are some examples of
the guests that were represented: conservationist, solar energy, wind energy,
fossil fuels, oil, coal, nuclear energy (see Figure 3), natural gas, biomass
fuel, hydro power, business owners, grandparents, politician, mine worker,
teacher, children’s advocate, the poor, student, neighbor, mine owner, devel-
oper, construction worker, scientist, environmentalist, children, parents, home
owner and refinery representative. The students cast themselves (and some-
times each other) in the roles of those ‘invited’ to the forum. Students were
asked to consider their character’s objectives, agendas, values, experiences
and reputation in relation to this energy issue. We told them they could create
a cheat sheet to assist them while performing their puppet during the actual
forum. We gave students guided time in class to form groups to discuss and
consider what they would have their character say during the forum.
Though we had intended to lead the students in creating their own
shadow puppets on Day 1, we simply did not have enough class time to
Figure 3: The audience’s view of the shadow puppet character, Nuclear, being
performed by a student during an energy forum.
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supervise that process. Osnes had created shadow puppets for some of the
characters that we anticipated using, and during the evening of the first
day, Osnes and Hunt and Johnson made shadow puppets for the rest of the
guests identified by students. We simply drew an outline of each character
on the cardboard, cut them out and taped them to wooden skewers, both to
support them and to provide a handle with which to manipulate the puppet.
We attached articulated arms to some of the puppets so that they could
gesture by moving a wooden skewer attached to the hands. Some even had
an articulated jaw so that the puppet’s mouth could be opened by pulling
down on a string (see Figure 4).
Day 2 of the workshop began by giving each student the shadow puppet
for their character and allowing them some time to rehearse manipulating
the puppet and plan what the character could say. Hunt acted as the moder-
ator in front of the shadow screen, announcing the beginning of the energy
forum and reminding everyone of the issues to be considered. She stated
the goal of the forum, explained how various guests would be invited to
Figure 4: Shadow puppet made from recycled cardstock, with an articulated jaw
and arm.
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debate this issue in groups and told students that at the completion of the
forum the class would gather to discuss possible resolutions to the issues
and next steps for action. Two people held up the shadow screen, which was
approximately 2.5 metres wide and 1.5 metres high so that the bottom of
the screen touched the floor. Another person held the solar-powered light
aimed at the screen about 60 centimetres from the screen on the opposite
side from the audience. Behind the screen, Johnson then took over moder-
ating the dialogue between characters and facilitated the conversations by
posing questions.
Applied theatre practitioner Michael Rohd (1998: 113–14) describes a
good facilitator as someone who is energized and enthusiastic about the
process, a good listener, non-judgmental, who deepens the discussion and
moves the event forward through questions – qualities that Johnson brought
to the facilitation. The conversations between stakeholders flowed freely,
with Johnson sometimes allowing the random combinations of characters to
discuss the issues, and at times purposefully pulling in a specific character
to further the discussion. Although prepared with talking points, students
responded spontaneously in the discussion, relying on all they had learned
about alternative energy through their class. This improvisational structure
seemed to require that the students stay alert to the forum, since they knew
they could be called to perform at any time. This format also demonstrated
the students’ level of understanding of both the issue and their characters’
perspectives on the issue. Johnson did not provide answers or solutions to
issues being discussed, but rather attempted to lead only with questions.
Here is a sample of the dialogue between an environmentalist and coal from
the first class on the proposed 5 per cent tax increase to create a local solar
energy farm:
Environmentalist: It could save us a lot of pollution into the air.
Moderator: And who pollutes?
Environmentalist: Coal.
Moderator: She’s calling you out, Coal. What do you have to say
about that?
Coal: I provide jobs.
Environmentalist: You kill bunnies. [big laugh from the class]
Coal: A lot of miners depend on me for work, and I’m a
local resource; I don’t have to be shipped in.
Environmentalist: Even though you are local, you are still bad for
the environment and getting you out of the earth
destroys a lot of our land.
Coal: Why change if it is working now? Besides, the taxes
would be hard for people in these tough economic
times.
It was also during this session that we observed the value of humour in the
classroom. By using the shadow puppets, the students seemed to be able to
let the joy of being creative come through, and many of their insecurities and
anxieties disappeared during the session. Johnson infused a playful and chal-
lenging energy into the conversations that kept the discussions lively. Once
the conversation was engaged between characters, it tended to continue;
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however, getting it going in the first place took a persistent and spirited
effort from him. Here is a conversation on the same issue between multiple
stakeholders:
Moderator: Nuclear, what do you think about this solar farm?
Nuclear: Hey, I’m clean. Use me instead.
Moderator: Children, do you want to say anything to that? Is
there anything wrong with uranium extraction or
nuclear energy?
Voice of the children: You contaminate the water and cause birth defects.
Wind energy: Stick your head out of the window, and you’ll see
how windy it is here.
Solar energy: But it’s sunny more than it’s windy.
Moderator: Could we propose a hybrid?
Voice of the children: Yeah, the energy farm could maybe be both wind
and solar.
It seemed important to have Johnson behind the screen with the students
to keep them focused and on task, since they might otherwise have felt as if
they were hiding from their teacher’s supervision and could just goof around
with the puppets. The energy forum in the second class included a debate
between a Politician and a Mine worker about the economic value of mine
work and the health risks for workers and the environment. The students
seemed to be especially concerned about the environmental repercussions
of mines and the shortened lives of mine workers. There was also a conver-
sation between a Teacher and the Environment. The Teacher wanted the
community to stop using coal and wanted more solar energy in the commu-
nity. The Environment wanted to warn the forum audiences about the death
of fish and to remind them about jobs in solar industry, and also encour-
aged them to start doing little things to help the environment. Overall, the
Teacher and the Environment were in agreement on most issues. This scene
demonstrated how stakeholders could also share common values and agen-
das instead of only holding opposing values and agendas.
As each energy forum concluded, Hunt asked the class to think about the
value of forums, especially how a forum allows communities to create true
dialogues and examine various points of views on important energy issues.
She asked the students from the first class to consider what else they would
want to know about the tax increase for the solar energy farm before they
would support it with their vote. Their questions included: How many jobs
would it create? Would those jobs have benefits? What would the salary be?
Would the jobs be sustainable? Could there really be a hybrid system with
wind and solar? How much space would the farm take and where would
it be? Would it destroy our beautiful views? How much would it cost the
community overall? What about tribal and zoning laws? How long would
it really take to build it? The class came to an agreement that the forum
process was a helpful way to approach an issue, and many of the students
said they would like to have the opportunity to use their voices in a real
forum someday.
The science teacher had been present in the classroom observing for
most of the time we were working with his classes, but he intervened only
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to answer a few questions directed to him by Hunt. In an interview after the
project was complete, he said that the level of participation in the class had
impressed him. He was especially surprised that several students who had not
spoken during the entire semester performed their character in the energy
forum when behind the screen. He agreed that the medium of shadow puppet
theatre seemed to be uniquely effective in providing a means of expression for
students who he identified as otherwise shy or reserved. He also felt that the
use of real solar energy in the shadow puppet theatre setup supported the
students’ inquiry into alternative energy.
Although our intention had been that the home energy survey results could
be used to develop the content of the energy forum, this did not prove possi-
ble, and the students had not taken the solar lights home. Regardless of these
deviations from our design, students were still able to identify relevant local
energy issues. It is our belief that this process would have been enhanced by
the following conditions: a comprehensive system in place at the cooperat-
ing school for students to check out solar lights; the science teacher requir-
ing the completion of the home energy surveys; and all aspects of the energy
forum (including the home energy survey, light check out and participation in
the energy forum) to be part of the assessment for the class unit on alterna-
tive energy. We find that, in order to maximize the benefits of this education/
outreach project, it is imperative for a local person with a vested interest in
the goals of the intervention to work closely with the schools to be sure all
elements of the design are being realized in a timely fashion.
The outreach efforts between the CU and Eagle Energy are currently
moving to the former Bennett Freeze area (Minard 2012) in the Western
Agency of the Navajo Nation in Arizona, where there is significantly less
energy access than in the Eastern Agency, which will probably increase the
usefulness and local relevance of this education/outreach programme. We
are partnering in this effort with the Environmental Education Outreach
Programme through the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals
at Northern Arizona University. This also ensures that there will be local
people who share the same goals as this educational outreach, and who
can check in regularly to ensure all portions of the project design are being
executed.
When we introduce this project in that area, we hope to offer professional
development training for science teachers to use solar-powered shadow
puppets to engage students in an energy forum. This training could convey
the following: the benefits of the medium of solar-powered shadow puppets
for an energy forum; guidelines for leading students in setting up an energy
forum; practical instruction for the shadow puppet medium; and techniques
for facilitation. This would allow the teachers to determine how many classes
they can dedicate to this kind of a project to suit their schedules and needs.
Having this project take place over more than a two-day period could signifi-
cantly deepen the lessons learned from it for students.
The science teacher with whom we worked on this project recommended
that we supply energy forum kits to encourage science teachers to adopt this
education/outreach. These could simply include one 2.5 1.5 metre piece
of white muslin cloth, wooden skewers to serve as handles for the recycled
cardboard shadow puppets and an inexpensive solar-powered light such as
ATR_2.2_Osnes_165-181.indd 177 7/8/14 12:19:13 PM
the d.light S2 (d.light 2013), which sells for under US$15. To gather the card-
board needed to construct the shadow puppets, students could be encouraged
to save the cardboard from cereal boxes in the preceding weeks. This reuse of
cardboard could be included in the discussion of how resources are managed
to increase sustainability efforts in their community. Instead of having to
make separate ‘cheat sheets’ to help them remember their character’s primary
objectives, students could write notes directly onto the shadow puppet for
greater ease and convenience.
We recommend the development of more formal assessment tools for
student involvement in this education/outreach so that science teachers will be
more likely to include this activity within their formal class plans. This could
include assessing the completed home energy surveys, the students’ ability
to identify multiple talking points for their character about the given energy
issue, their committed participation in performing their character and a writ-
ten summary of how the Energy Forum advanced the classroom community
in considering their energy issues.
Where possible, we recommend that this project be offered along with
an all-school assembly performance of Clean Energy Access: The Musical and
with the solar-powered light library checkout program. Clean Energy Access
introduces the medium of solar-powered shadow puppet theatre and exposes
students to the performance conventions. The library checkout programs help
to sustain and support the impact of the effort. In this project, Osnes success-
fully worked with the drama teacher on the production of Clean Energy Access:
The Musical to include the high school students in the performance. Therefore,
we recommend exploring possible collaborations between the drama depart-
ments of the participating schools, in which high school drama students
may assist with the energy forum project within the science classrooms.
This would allow for both an interdisciplinary and interscholastic approach to
this project.
Since this project was implemented in New Mexico, Osnes has imple-
mented a similar project with solar-powered shadow puppet theatre for
the youth group that is part of the Grupo Fenix Solar Center in Totogalpa,
Nicaragua (Grupo Fenix 2014), in order for them to tell the story of how
solar energy has helped them to transform their lives and their community.
Youth participants, who ranged in age from 18–25, were incredibly recep-
tive to this form, and successfully created a performance for their commu-
nity at the completion of a two-day intensive workshop. Special attention was
dedicated to capacity-building for the youth group members so they gained
the skills and experience to replicate the process of creating a solar-powered
shadow puppet performance on other issues they identified as important to
their community. The experience reiterated the dynamic match between this
unique artistic medium and the subject of renewable energy.
Improvisation in the classroom requires active engagement, and can give
students the roles of author and critic of proposed new realities for energy
in their community. It is not a frivolous activity that has no place in a seri-
ous science course, but rather a valuable tool for students to apply scientific
learning to their own society. In her book Theatre Games for the Classroom,
Viola Spolin (1986: 2) wrote, ‘Theatre-game workshops are designed not as
diversions from curriculum, but rather as supplements, increasing student
ATR_2.2_Osnes_165-181.indd 178 7/8/14 12:19:14 PM
awareness of problems and ideas fundamental to their intellectual develop-
ment.’ Although the theatre scholar may feel little need to justify the inclusion
of theatre in an educational setting, it is often necessary to explicitly identify
and describe benefits of theatre activities to teachers of science. The medium
of solar-powered shadow puppet theatre can serve as an effective medium to
enact an energy forum, since it allows increased expressive freedom, reinforces
energy issues through its metaphoric qualities, gives hands-on experience
with solar technology and encourages critical student engagement. The solar-
powered shadow puppet theatre energy forum illuminates the exploration of
alternative energy on the Navajo Nation.
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Beth Osnes, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of
Colorado. She has presented on this work at the World Renewable Energy
Congress in 2010, the World Renewable Energy Forum in Denver in 2012 and
the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio in 2012. She has published books and
many articles on women’s vocal empowerment, gender equity in sustainable
development, mothering, activism and the performing arts. She is featured
in the award-winning documentary, Mother: Caring for 7 Billion (http://www.
motherthefilm.com). Her book, Theatre for Women’s Participation in Sustainable
Development, was published by Routledge in 2014.
Contact: Director of Graduate Studies, Theatre & Dance, University of
Colorado, UCB 261, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
E-mail: beth.osnes@colorado.edu
ATR_2.2_Osnes_165-181.indd 180 7/8/14 12:19:14 PM
Angela Hunt is currently a PhD student in the Department of Theatre at the
University of Colorado Boulder and a full-time secondary teacher at Fairview
High School in Boulder, Colorado. She holds master’s degrees in teaching
and English, and is interested in collaborative dramaturgy for social change in
secondary school environments.
Contact: Language Arts Department, Fairview High School, 1515 Greenbriar
Blvd., Boulder, CO 80305-7043, USA.
E-mail: angela.hunt@bvsd.org
Beth Osnes and Angela Hunt have asserted their right under the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the authors of this work in
the format that was submitted to Intellect Ltd.
ATR_2.2_Osnes_165-181.indd 181 7/8/14 12:19:14 PM
intellect
www.intellectbooks.com
The Student Actor Prepares
Acting for Life
Gai Jones
Gai Jones, founder of California Youth in Theatre, taught
theatre at El Dorado High School in Placentia, CA, for 34 years.
ATR_2.2_Osnes_165-181.indd 182 7/8/14 12:19:14 PM
