Adolescente o studente? il creative drama in classe come strumento d'ausilio

According to the trends in the study of emotional system and its influence in learning process, and according to the necessity to solve the adolescent behavioral difficulties in the school, this study assesses the effects of the use of creative drama as an instrument helping adolescents in identity construction. The study agree with Pietropolli Charmet’s theory, which maintain a misalignment between the affective role of adolescent and the social role of student, and the possibility to stimulate the realignment of the both with the construction of a solid and cooperative group-class. The investigated instrument is the creative drama, as an expressive process oriented activity and not as final artistic product oriented activity, whose transformative potential is confirmed by numerous scientific literature. The aims of this study are: to document if the introduction of a creative drama school program into the curriculum in the first classes of a higher technical school can help young people in the formation of a solid and cooperative group-class, may stimulate the dynamics of cooperation and collaboration among students of the same class, and to what extent can facilitate the construction of identity in adolescent students and help realign the affective role of adolescent and the social role of student. Two case studies were conducted in sequence, in which it was offered to the students an expressive-dramatic program falls during school hours. In the first case study, the class consisted of 23 subjects, including 1 female and 22 male, aged between 13 and 17 years; the data were collected through the researcher and the trainer observation notes, and through semi-structured interviews conducted with students at the end of the workshop. In the second case study, the class consisted of 28 subjects, all males, aged between 13 and 17 years; the data were collected by the researcher observation notes, the semi-structured interviews conducted with students at the end of the workshop, and some psychological test specially adapted for this research. The data suggest that the effectiveness of the investigated instrument depends on the specificity of the proposed activities and the abundance of the participants. The first and second goals has been achieved with bodily activities, or to expression and physical contact, while the third was achieved with spoken improvisation and with the technique of Forum Theatre. In general, the deconstruction of the space-class in favor of an experimental space and the type of activities proposed by the technique of creative drama have opened up the possibility for extensive identity testing of those involved.