In this three-article format dissertation, I explore the use of drama-based research and pedagogy as a tool for preservice teacher (PST) education, specifically for opening up spaces for dialogue, possibility, and most importantly co-constructing critical consciousness, which is the ability to recognize and problematize structural inequalities and taking action for social justice.The first article examines the use of dramatic inquiry, a type of drama-based pedagogy, with the aim of understanding the opportunities and tensions of using dramatic inquiry in the process of co-constructing PSTs’ critical consciousness. Drawing on drama artifacts, field observation, and in-depth interviews with PSTs, I present the opportunities as the following themes: emotional engagement, interrogation of beliefs and assumptions, and dialogic meaning-making. However, there were tensions such as PSTs’ experiencing emotional overwhelm, feelings of being in an unsafe space, and a noticeable delay in their critical engagement. Despite these obstacles, the study also highlights these constraints as potential avenues for enhancing PSTs’ critical consciousness. The second article presents an ethnodrama, a form of drama-based research, to engage teacher educators and PSTs to examine classroom dynamics aimed at creating spaces for critical consciousness. Grounded in the principles of Bakhtin’s dialogism, this ethnodrama spotlights pivotal moments of dialogic and monologic moments within the dramatic inquiry discussed in Article One. This research paints a vivid picture of classroom dynamics capturing the complexity of these exchanges, thereby shedding light on how these interactions affect dialogue. Article three proposes drama-based pedagogy as a “pedagogy of the possible”, an approach to education from possibility studies. This conceptual paper responds to a call for scholarly dialogue in the field of possibility studies. Drawing on my own personal experiences of using drama-based pedagogy, I demonstrate how drama-based pedagogy aligns with the eight possibilities of pedagogies of the possible – the possibilities of (1) not knowing, (2) failure, (3) uncertainly, (4) movement, (5) anticipation, (6) dialogue, (7) care, and (8) responsibility. Showing drama-based pedagogy as a pedagogy of the possible emphasizes the open-ended nature of learning with drama, foregrounding the boundless potential for growth and transformation.

Inclusive education has been impeded by deficit-oriented policies and practices that promote standardization and lead to student segregation by ability/disability labels. Deficit perspectives are maintained across separate programs (i.e., general, special, gifted) through distinct sets of practices and extend into higher education and academia. In response to this issue, this dissertation used strengths-based strategies for collaboratively rethinking and reimagining educational practices, perspectives, and interactions towards inclusivity. The purpose of this research was to study unexpected moments in learning events (i.e., micromoments), explore educators’ responses to these events, and develop strategies for inclusive education professional learning (PL). Diverse educators and neurodivergent adults responded to task invitations based on the research questions: How might micromoments move in/with/through emergent learning events? And, how might attunement to micromoment assemblages be developed? Additional questions explored how conceptualizations of micromoment movement and attunement might transform inclusive education PL and qualitative inquiry. The neurodiversity paradigm, activist philosophy, post-oppositional transformation theory, and creative learning concepts supported an embodied, multiple, emergent, and inter-relational study of the micromoment. Methodological-poly-experiments formulated as invitations to tasks were used as initial enabling constraints for this research-creation. Documentation from several small Zoom group meetings was used in data-weaving, which included collective speculative fabulations (i.e., storying), post-qualitative cartography in the forms of fiber art sculpture mappings, and a moving content analysis. The neurodiversity-inspired educational perspective developed in this study supported a PL shift away from student labels toward the study and design of learning events. Attunement to micromoment movement in learning events was practiced by following micromoment dimensions, elements, and flows. This led to the development of a framework for the study of micromoments for educator PL. This study merged creativity studies, disability studies in education, and educational research. Furthermore, this project extended post-qualitative and research-creation methodologies, offered suggestions for redefining various methodological concepts and neurotypical expectations, and introduced several new concepts for qualitative inquiry. In conclusion, creative professional learning/unlearning strategies, including reflection on underlying educational perspectives and learning event interactions, were part of a meaningful process in cultivating inclusive education for neurodiverse teachers, students, and research participants.