The Arts Connection

Abstract

Artist-in-residency experiences (puppetry, creative drama, music, and movement) indicated a connection with emotional transformative learning as a venue for professional development. This small teacher practitioner-based study involved teacher participants engaged in four-weeklong artist residencies at four childcare centers. Thirteen teachers participated in a presurvey phase and eight teachers participated in a postsurvey phase designed to measure their attitudes and beliefs about how children learn. Teachers’ presurvey responses indicated firm beliefs in a direct instruction approach to teaching young children while postsurvey responses showed movement toward a facilitator approach to children’s learning. Four informal teacher interviews with 2 of the 13 teachers at one of the four centers suggested emotional transformative learning in an artist-in-residency experience allows teachers to begin to understand that attitudes, feelings, and beliefs are a part of change.