Drama for Schools (DFS) is an arts integration professional development program that trains teachers to use drama-based instruction techniques. The DFS strategies aim to connect student learning to their lived experiences in a manner consistent with authentic instruction principles. The focus of this mixed-methods study was on the relationship between increase in authentic instruction, level of student engagement, and articulation by teachers regarding the participation of their middle school students in classroom activities. Pre-post measures indicate that student engagement increased as a result of drama-based instruction strategies. These lesson plan measures also demonstrated how teachers changed their articulation of student engagement. Discussion focuses on how the relationship between the DFS program structure, participants’ pedagogy, and student outcomes fit into, and challenge, the overall critical pedagogical framework of the program.

Family Medicine residency programs in the United States are required to promote resident well-being. This article describes how one residency does this by teaching the concepts of Positive Psychology and Authentic Happiness developed by Dr. Martin Seligman utilizing a multi-media curriculum. As part of this curriculum, residents listen to the song “Don’t Worry Be Happy,” watch selected scenes from the movies Mary Poppins and The Lion King, and see a performance of the song and dance Electricity from the show Billy Elliot, the Musical. Research showing that happiness is contagious is also discussed. Finally, residents learn how to increase their own happiness by completing three exercises shown by Dr. Seligman to promote happiness.

The unity of knowledge represents an old idea with new manifestations. During the last decades integrated approaches in teaching and learning have become increasingly popular. Applications of integrative approaches between the arts and other school subjects exist in many countries around the world, offering insights into the problems and challenges that such efforts can result into. In this paper a short review of the relevant literature in support of integrative curricula, as well as problems and concerns caused by their application, will set the basis for the description of the practice-based research project that is reported.The project brought together a kindergarten teacher and two researchers, under a collaborative model of inquiry in a pre-primary school setting in Cyprus. An attempt was made to enrich the teaching of musical concepts through the use of activities and practices borrowed from other disciplines. More specifically, the study sought to investigate whether children’s understanding of the music concepts taught was evident, what was the children’s response to the designed units and what were the teacher’s perceptions of the educational atmosphere before and after the application of the designed units. Six half-hour music lessons, comprising two different units -pitch and tempo- were taught and videotaped. The design of the different units and the organization and choice of activities, apart from drawing from the literature on integration, was heavily based on the theory of multiple intelligences by H. Gardner. A ‘follow-up’ video stimulated recall interview was conducted at the end of each unit. The videotaped lessons, the observation field notes, the interviews with the teacher, the teacher’s self reflection as well as the feedback by the researchers, provided both a wealth of data as well as interesting interpretations. The findings suggest that the pre- primary school children that participated in the study responded with enthusiasm to innovative activities that related music with other subjects. In addition, each child was given the opportunity to better understand the concepts taught through his/her own ways of learning.

Articles in this issue of the Journal for Learning through the Arts report on the efforts of researchers and teachers to understand the components and outcomes of effective arts programs. The authors are pursuing the overall goal of improving arts education for all children and youth. And, in the process, helping them to employ their imagination and creativity throughout their lives.

To address arts education disparities in middle level schools, this paper explores evidence that infusing the visual and performing arts into language arts, math, science, and history/social studies courses is a pedagogical approach that meets the developmental needs of early adolescents and fosters a relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory curriculum for all learners. The strategy, often identified as integrated or interdisciplinary arts education, is examined through the literature and a case study of five middle level classrooms. Findings from this study, derived from participant (teachers and administrators) interviews and classroom observations, provide the compelling argument to support implementation of arts integration pedagogy in middle level schools. Moreover, positive outcomes for diverse learners suggest that this study has direct implications for educational practice and policy. Arts-infused learning can shift the current educational paradigm and foster positive change in middle level classrooms.

This classroom study focused on modeling a hands-on approach for understanding classroom applications of multiple intelligence theory through arts-based integration. Thirty-five preservice teachers enrolled in Educational Psychology classes participated in an interdisciplinary geometry lesson modeling Artful Learning™, experiencing an arts- based pedagogical approach in the lesson. Students identified and described geometric concepts and relationships and photographed geometrical elements authentically on campus as part of the model’s original creation. Assessment of lesson objectives revealed that students appreciated arts-based pedagogy, but had difficulty translating theory into practice when creating their original lesson plans. Discussion includes reflective responses of preservice teachers to inquiry and arts-based classroom instruction for enhancing student understanding, as well as implications for integrating art pedagogy in professional practices.

This article is about a multidisciplinary R&D project in which a Canadian Learning Through The Arts (LTTA) program was imported to Finland in 2003–2004. Cultural differences in arts education in Finland and Canada are discussed. While Finland has a national school curriculum with all the arts included. Canada relies more on partnerships to ensure arts education for children in the schools. Despite the fact that Canadian learning methods appeared to be quite similar to the ones Finnish teachers were already using at schools, cooperation and the inclusion of an artist in the classroom enriched the normal way of schooling. The project described here was reported earlier (2007) in the dissertation “Two cultures of arts education, Finland and Canada? An integrated view.”

Author(s): Van Winkle, Lon J; Robson, Chester; Chandar, Nalini; Green, Jacalyn M; Viselli, Susan M; Donovan, Kelly | Abstract: PurposeCritical reflection helps to animate humanistic values needed for professional behavior in medical students. We wanted to learn whether poems written by physicians could foster such critical reflection. To do so, we determined whether the poems elicited dissonance (i.e., recognition of their own or others behavior as incongruent with their values) and subsequent reflection or critical reflection by teams of students in a medical biochemistry course.Subjects and MethodsThirty learning teams of five to seven members each (total of 196 first-year osteopathic medical students) related four humanistic values or characteristics of professional behavior to an associated poem written by a physician. Their written individual and team reports were assessed for dissonance, reflection and critical reflection. We also determined whether dissonance (if it occurred) was resolved through preservation of students’ values and behavior (and rejection of other’s behavior) or through reconciliation of their own incongruent humanistic values and professional behavior.ResultsAll 30 teams exhibited dissonance and reflection in their written reports, and 18 teams showed critical reflection. Fifteen of the latter 18 teams displayed reconciliation after critical reflection, and five of those 15 teams also showed preservation. The other 15 teams exhibited preservation, but not reconciliation, after either critical reflection (three teams) or reflection (12 teams). At least two teams exhibited related but deeper critical reflection in more open-ended written work outside the formal assignment of this exercise.ConclusionsThe poems we used were virtually certain to evoke dissonance in learning teams. Behavior exhibited by patients or health care personnel in some of the poems contradicts most people’s values for proper behavior. Placing focus on imperfect behavior by others can, however, limit recognition of one’s own hypocritical actions. To obviate such limitations of more structured assignments, we encourage provision of tacit opportunities for critical reflection outside structured formal assignments. The exercise we used led at least two teams of students to exhibit deeper critical reflection, outside the formal assignment, in order to reconcile their incongruent values and professional behavior. Moreover, the exercise itself led most teams to exhibit critical reflection needed to animate humanistic values and professional behavior in medical students.

Winter, tackle a persistent challenge in medical education: how to translate the abstract humanistic values and ideals that undergird clinical medicine into concrete contexts that can inform and inspire medical learners' attitudes and practice. A subset of medical educators has maintained a longstanding interest in using literature and the arts to examine such difficult-to-teach issues in medicine Following others in the field (Wald, 2010), Van Winkle believes that developing reflective capacity Robyn Winter, himself an academic family physician, starts from the assumption that, essentially, happy doctors make for happy (in the sense of better satisfied and better cared for) patients. Each of their papers presents innovative ideas for integrating the arts and humanities to further their educational goals.

Concurrent to the present reduction of arts education in mainstream American schools, many evolutionary-minded scholars are asserting that artistic behavior contributes significantly to cognition, has been advantageous for our survival, and satisfies psychological needs that are biologically embedded. Supported by long-term and wide-spread art making among the human species and the spontaneous artful behaviors of children, this cross-disciplinary study explores the possibility that artful behaviors represent an inherent part of human nature. Based on an ethological understanding of art (that is, as a behavior rather than an object), this research uses an interpretivist lens and phenomenological design with the ultimate goal of exploring how such proclivities might inform educational policy and practice. Data collection methods include a combination of observation, participant observation, and teacher interviews in a state-funded pre-kindergarten classroom.