Flattened Hierarchy Through Drama-Based Pedagogy: A Graduate Student Instructor and Two Undergraduates Partner on Classroom Research

In this paper, the authors describe their journey from a teacher-student relationship to that of research partners and co-authors, thus providing a case study situated within the literature on students as partners. The instructor's use of drama-based pedagogy organically facilitated this journey both by flattening the hierarchy between teacher and students, and by being the subject under study. As a research group, the authors designed and collaborated on a scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) project. They analyzed existing classroom data to study the effects of drama-based pedagogy on their classroom environment and presented findings at conferences and through publication. This collaboration between a graduate student instructor and her undergraduate learners benefited all parties from both research and professionalization perspectives, which mirrors positive outcomes in the students as partners literature. The partnership can thus serve as a model for similar partnerships with minimal institutional infrastructure. Graduate students become research mentors and gain greater access to their students' classroom experiences, while undergraduate students explore the next step of an academic career track by conducting and disseminating original research as equal partners. The authors highlight reciprocity in their collaboration and call on institutions to facilitate this kind of partnership with funding and institutional support.