Pukyong National University

Korea-China Joint Study on the Effects of Educational Drama on Core Competencies to Be Published in International Journal

- Study demonstrates educational drama’s effectiveness in enhancing creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration skills

- Paper by Pukyong National University and Changzhi University research team accepted for publication in ‘Frontiers in Psychology’

A study has found that educational drama can have an overall positive effect on enhancing students’ key competencies, including creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.

Doctoral students Yuan Li and Xinyuan Zhang of the Department of Education Consulting at Pukyong National University Graduate School and Professor Gyun Heo of the Department of Fisheries and Marine Industries Education systematically analyzed the effects of educational drama on students’ key competencies in their paper, “The Effects of Educational Drama on Students’ Key Competencies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.”

The paper has been accepted for publication in the Educational Psychology section of Volume 17 (2026) of Frontiers in Psychology, an SSCI-indexed international journal, and is currently awaiting final publication. The study is significant in that it evaluates the effects of educational drama through a meta-analysis synthesizing multiple controlled studies, rather than relying on individual cases.

The research team systematically searched major academic databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and ProQuest Central, while using Google Scholar as a supplementary source to review studies on educational drama published through 2025. Of the 1,855 studies initially identified, the team selected 27 controlled studies that examined the effects of educational drama on key competencies such as creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration, and conducted a meta-analysis of data from a total of 2,239 participants.

The analysis found that educational drama had an overall positive effect on enhancing students’ key competencies, including creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration. The findings suggest that participation-centered educational drama activities, such as role-playing, scenario-based activities, improvisation, and collaborative interaction, can contribute to improving students’ thinking, expressive, and interpersonal skills.

Professor Gyun Heo said, “This study is significant in that it quantitatively synthesizes the educational value of educational drama from the perspective of 21st-century key competencies. In particular, its publication in an SSCI-indexed international journal provides international academic evidence supporting the effectiveness of educational drama in enhancing key competencies.”

Meanwhile, Yuan Li, a member of the research team, has been dedicated to research since coming to Pukyong National University from China through the Global PKNU Graduate Degree Program for Faculty and Staff of Overseas Universities. Li is currently an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and New Media at Changzhi University in China, while pursuing a doctoral degree in the Department of Education Consulting at Pukyong National University Graduate School. With support from the 2025 PhiNX Graduate Student Research Encouragement Scholarship Program for Academic Fields in Need of Protection and the GPKNU Research Promotion Scholarship, Li has achieved notable research outcomes, including publishing a first-author paper in the KCI-indexed Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education. To date, Li has published two papers in KCI-indexed journals.

In addition, Xinyuan Zhang has been dedicated to research since coming to Pukyong National University from China through the Global PKNU Graduate Degree Program for Faculty and Staff of Overseas Universities. With support from the 2025 PhiNX Graduate Student Research Encouragement Scholarship Program for Academic Fields in Need of Protection and the GPKNU Research Promotion Scholarship, Zhang has achieved notable research outcomes, including publishing a first-author paper in the KCI-indexed Journal of Fisheries and Marine Sciences Education. To date, Zhang has published two papers in KCI-indexed journals.

Professor Gyun Heo, who supervised the study, has conducted research focusing on educational technology, AI-based education, big data analytics, and advanced quantitative research methodologies, while mentoring graduate students and early-career researchers in publishing papers in international and domestic academic journals. This achievement is regarded as an example of Pukyong National University’s global research competitiveness, demonstrating the international expansion of the educational research capabilities accumulated by the Department of Fisheries and Marine Industries Education at the undergraduate level and the Department of Education Consulting and Department of Fisheries and Marine Human Resources Development at the graduate level. <Pukyong Today>