Learning through playing

By Gina Farthing

Published: October 8, 2008

As most parents know, children learn a great deal through play. Some experts have concluded that play can also be used to increase retention in other skill areas.
Duane Hahn is a person who thinks like the experts. He has constructed a variety of programs to assist elementary students in doing just that: playing with theater to increase memory retention in science, social studies, English and math, core skills required to pass the Virginia Standards of Learning
Hahn and his writing partner, Michael Waltz, of Chicago, have penned a number of children’s plays that now have been gathered together, to be offered to local schools in an effort to help children do well on their exams.
“I’ve worked with the schools in the past and they wanted me to come up with plays that were SOL-oriented to grades three through five,” Hahn says.
Some area schools, such as Berkeley Glenn, Westwood and Ladd elementaries, have already introduced these learning plays to students.
Examples of the plays are “The Virginia Show,” which uses a morning news show format to teach kids about state geography, history, agriculture and business. “News anchors” interview rivers, regions of the state, government officials and others who provide information about Virginia.
“The History Challenge” uses a game show format where competitors answer questions regarding Virginia and American history.
“A Romp Through Early American History” teaches students about U.S. history from its early European explorers to the Revolutionary War. Children get to “meet” explorers, settlers, the first Americans and the country’s Founding Fathers.
“Tall Tale Tellers” takes students backstage at a Wild West show where characters such as Annie Oakley, Paul Bunyan, Calamity Jane and others compete with each other in telling their tall tales.
“Teachers at the schools gave me lists of what information [the children] needed to know,” says Hahn.
Hahn taught at Waynesboro High School from 1969-2001, then at the local elementaries through 2007.
“I’ve lived here all my life and started teaching here right after college,” Hahn says. “After I retired, it was then that I started working more with the plays.”
Hahn says working with the children is similar to working with adults in the theater arts, except for one thing.
“Instead of just sitting there and learning, [the children] were actually becoming a part of the history,” he says.
Another part of local lore Hahn will have a hand in presenting to the community is a play called, “Shenandoah Moon,” based on the book he’s about to publish this month, of the same name.
“It’s a piece of historical fiction,” says Hahn, who had help on his theatrical piece from Barbara Spilman Lawson and Elizabeth Massie.
“We helped him lay out the plot, the characters and the stage layout,” says Lawson. “A play is so much more different than writing a book.”
Lawson says that graphic artist Cortney Skinner did the book’s cover artwork and that the Waynesboro Players will perform the musical this spring.
“It’s been a lot of fun to work on the project and it’s been great to learn so much history of the local area,” she says.
Lawson’s sister, Elizabeth Massie, an author in her own right, agrees.
“He brought Barb and me into the project. ... We had done playwriting in different forms before, so he asked for our help.
“It was great fun and I really think