scholarly articles about arts education

New evidence of the benefits of arts education

Subscribe to the brown center on education policy newsletter, brian kisida and bk brian kisida assistant professor, truman school of public affairs - university of missouri daniel h. bowen dhb daniel h. bowen assistant professor, college of education and human development - texas a&m university.

February 12, 2019

Engaging with art is essential to the human experience. Almost as soon as motor skills are developed, children communicate through artistic expression. The arts challenge us with different points of view, compel us to empathize with “others,” and give us the opportunity to reflect on the human condition. Empirical evidence supports these claims: Among adults, arts participation is related to behaviors that contribute to the health of civil society , such as increased civic engagement, greater social tolerance, and reductions in other-regarding behavior. Yet, while we recognize art’s transformative impacts, its place in K-12 education has become increasingly tenuous.

A critical challenge for arts education has been a lack of empirical evidence that demonstrates its educational value. Though few would deny that the arts confer intrinsic benefits, advocating “art for art’s sake” has been insufficient for preserving the arts in schools—despite national surveys showing an overwhelming majority of the public agrees that the arts are a necessary part of a well-rounded education.

Over the last few decades, the proportion of students receiving arts education has shrunk drastically . This trend is primarily attributable to the expansion of standardized-test-based accountability, which has pressured schools to focus resources on tested subjects. As the saying goes, what gets measured gets done. These pressures have disproportionately affected access to the arts in a negative way for students from historically underserved communities. For example, a federal government report found that schools designated under No Child Left Behind as needing improvement and schools with higher percentages of minority students were more likely to experience decreases in time spent on arts education.

We recently conducted the first ever large-scale, randomized controlled trial study of a city’s collective efforts to restore arts education through community partnerships and investments. Building on our previous investigations of the impacts of enriching arts field trip experiences, this study examines the effects of a sustained reinvigoration of schoolwide arts education. Specifically, our study focuses on the initial two years of Houston’s Arts Access Initiative and includes 42 elementary and middle schools with over 10,000 third- through eighth-grade students. Our study was made possible by generous support of the Houston Endowment , the National Endowment for the Arts , and the Spencer Foundation .

Due to the program’s gradual rollout and oversubscription, we implemented a lottery to randomly assign which schools initially participated. Half of these schools received substantial influxes of funding earmarked to provide students with a vast array of arts educational experiences throughout the school year. Participating schools were required to commit a monetary match to provide arts experiences. Including matched funds from the Houston Endowment, schools in the treatment group had an average of $14.67 annually per student to facilitate and enhance partnerships with arts organizations and institutions. In addition to arts education professional development for school leaders and teachers, students at the 21 treatment schools received, on average, 10 enriching arts educational experiences across dance, music, theater, and visual arts disciplines. Schools partnered with cultural organizations and institutions that provided these arts learning opportunities through before- and after-school programs, field trips, in-school performances from professional artists, and teaching-artist residencies. Principals worked with the Arts Access Initiative director and staff to help guide arts program selections that aligned with their schools’ goals.

Our research efforts were part of a multisector collaboration that united district administrators, cultural organizations and institutions, philanthropists, government officials, and researchers. Collective efforts similar to Houston’s Arts Access Initiative have become increasingly common means for supplementing arts education opportunities through school-community partnerships. Other examples include Boston’s Arts Expansion Initiative , Chicago’s Creative Schools Initiative , and Seattle’s Creative Advantage .

Through our partnership with the Houston Education Research Consortium, we obtained access to student-level demographics, attendance and disciplinary records, and test score achievement, as well as the ability to collect original survey data from all 42 schools on students’ school engagement and social and emotional-related outcomes.

We find that a substantial increase in arts educational experiences has remarkable impacts on students’ academic, social, and emotional outcomes. Relative to students assigned to the control group, treatment school students experienced a 3.6 percentage point reduction in disciplinary infractions, an improvement of 13 percent of a standard deviation in standardized writing scores, and an increase of 8 percent of a standard deviation in their compassion for others. In terms of our measure of compassion for others, students who received more arts education experiences are more interested in how other people feel and more likely to want to help people who are treated badly.

When we restrict our analysis to elementary schools, which comprised 86 percent of the sample and were the primary target of the program, we also find that increases in arts learning positively and significantly affect students’ school engagement, college aspirations, and their inclinations to draw upon works of art as a means for empathizing with others. In terms of school engagement, students in the treatment group were more likely to agree that school work is enjoyable, makes them think about things in new ways, and that their school offers programs, classes, and activities that keep them interested in school. We generally did not find evidence to suggest significant impacts on students’ math, reading, or science achievement, attendance, or our other survey outcomes, which we discuss in our full report .

As education policymakers increasingly rely on empirical evidence to guide and justify decisions, advocates struggle to make the case for the preservation and restoration of K-12 arts education. To date, there is a remarkable lack of large-scale experimental studies that investigate the educational impacts of the arts. One problem is that U.S. school systems rarely collect and report basic data that researchers could use to assess students’ access and participation in arts educational programs. Moreover, the most promising outcomes associated with arts education learning objectives extend beyond commonly reported outcomes such as math and reading test scores. There are strong reasons to suspect that engagement in arts education can improve school climate, empower students with a sense of purpose and ownership, and enhance mutual respect for their teachers and peers. Yet, as educators and policymakers have come to recognize the importance of expanding the measures we use to assess educational effectiveness, data measuring social and emotional benefits are not widely collected. Future efforts should continue to expand on the types of measures used to assess educational program and policy effectiveness.

These findings provide strong evidence that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on academic and social development. Because schools play a pivotal role in cultivating the next generation of citizens and leaders, it is imperative that we reflect on the fundamental purpose of a well-rounded education. This mission is critical in a time of heightened intolerance and pressing threats to our core democratic values. As policymakers begin to collect and value outcome measures beyond test scores, we are likely to further recognize the value of the arts in the fundamental mission of education.

Latest Issue

July 2024, Volume 77, Issue 4 View the issue here

Sample Articles

Developing Divas: The Potential of “Artpreneurism” for Art and Design Education July 2021, Volume 74, Issue 4 View the article here

Critical Arts Pedagogy: Nurturing Critical Consciousness and Self-Actualization Through Art Education September 2021, Volume 74, Issue 5 View the article here

Sample Instructional Resources

I Believe in the Power Art”: vanessa german, Citizen Artist May 2021, Volume 74, Issue 3 View the resource here

(Com)postmodernity: Artists Cultivating a Lust for Mortality July 2021, Volume 74, Issue 4 View the resource here

Editorial Leadership

Michelle S. Bae-Dimitriadis

Senior Editor, Art Education

The Pennsylvania State University

Email Michelle S. Bae-Dimitriadis

Amy Barnickel

Assistant Editor, Art Education

University of Central Florida

Email Amy Barnickel

Ami Kantawala , Past Editor Teachers College, Columbia University

Luke Meeken , Instructional Resource Editor Miami University

Eunkyung Hwang , Social Media Editor The Pennsylvania State University

Previous Editors

Editorial Review Board

Questions about the journal? Send an email to [email protected] .

NAEA Member Benefits

NAEA’s publishing partnership with educational publishers Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group offers enhanced benefits to NAEA members:

Digital Editions: Art Education is available in digital format as well as print. NAEA News is a digital-only publication. Members can access editions by logging in here .

Digital Archives: NAEA membership includes free access to current and archived issues of Art Education and NAEA News . The dynamic, user-friendly, digital format allows NAEA members and subscribers to read, search, and share online.

Institutions and Non-NAEA Members : For subscription information and to subscribe, contact email [email protected] .

Trouble accessing the digital issues? Email [email protected] .

Agents who are subscribing on behalf of a customer, please contact [email protected] .

For information about print advertising in Art Education , please contact Jeff Leonard of Leonard Media: 215-498-6905 or email [email protected] .

Helpful Downloads

NAEA Subscription Claims Policy (PDF 323 KB)
Use Research
Learn with Others
Conduct Research
Studies in Art Education
NAEA Advisory
Translations
Calls for Submissions
NAEP Arts Assessment (2016)

Save the dates for NAEA25!

Experience the 2025 NAEA National Convention, March 20-22, 2025, in Louisville, KY. Registration open soon!

NAEA Professional Learning Studio

Professional learning from anywhere in the world! Access live and on demand webinars, workshops, and more. Earn professional development credit or university credit!

National Art Education Foundation

The National Art Education Foundation (NAEF) invests in innovative initiatives to support instructional practice, research, and leadership in visual arts education.

Connect with Us

National Arts Education Association

901 Prince Street Alexandria , VA 22314

T elephone : +1 800 . 299 . 8321 +1 703 . 860 . 8000

F ax : fax +1 703 . 860 . 2960

E mail : info[at]arteducators.org

Quick links

National Art Honor Societies
Accessibility

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Publications
Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

Advanced Search
Journal List
Front Psychol

Delineating the Benefits of Arts Education for Children’s Socioemotional Development

Steven j. holochwost.

1 WolfBrown, Cambridge, MA, United States

2 Department of Psychology, Lehman College, City University of New York, Bronx, NY, United States

Thalia R. Goldstein

3 Department of Psychology, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, United States

Dennie Palmer Wolf

Associated data.

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article/supplementary material, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding author.

In this paper, we argue that in order for the study of arts education to continue to advance, we must delineate the effects of particular forms of arts education, offered in certain contexts, on specific domains of children’s socioemotional development. We explain why formulating precise hypotheses about the effects of arts education on children’s socioemotional development requires a differentiated definition of each arts education program or activity in question, as well as a consideration of both the immediate and broader contexts in which that program or activity occurs. We then offer the New Victory Theater’s Schools with Performing Arts Reach Kids (SPARK) program as an illustrative example of how these considerations allow for the refinement of hypotheses about the impact of arts education on children’s socioemotional development.

Introduction

Although research on the psychological benefits of arts education is expanding rapidly, problems remain in the ways in which such research is presented, publicized, and used to inform educational programs and policy. Chief among these is a tendency for discussions to focus on the benefits of “arts education,” as though all arts education were a monolithic activity with a singular pathway to uniform benefits. Here, we argue that our field must move beyond such broad claims about the impact of “arts education” to delineate the effects of particular forms of arts education, offered in certain contexts, on specific domains of children’s socioemotional development, a broad construct that encompasses identity formation, self-regulation, and interpersonal skills ( Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2021 ) and one that research increasingly suggests is fostered by many arts education experiences (see, for example, Farrington et al., 2019 ).

This specificity is essential for three reasons. First, the field has by now progressed to a point that merely demonstrating an association between some broad characterization of arts education (e.g., “theater education”) and some domain(s) of children’s socioemotional development (e.g., empathy) is unlikely to constitute a meaningful advance in our understanding of the relation between arts education and child development. In order to continue to build a scientific understanding of the potential role of arts education in children’s socioemotional development, we must formulate and test more precise hypotheses that link a particular form of arts education offered in a given context to a specific domain of that development. Only when all three of these terms – educational experience, context, and domain of socioemotional development – are adequately defined is it possible for researchers to reconcile the results of different studies and make informed hypotheses about whether the arts education experience that they are studying will yield a similar pattern of findings.

Second, if arts educators want to contribute to burgeoning efforts to foster children’s socioemotional development, they must design and implement programs that can accomplish this goal. This is far more likely when programs are intentionally designed around a plausible theory of change that links program activities to specific domains of children’s socioemotional development, and that provides guidelines for implementing a program with fidelity across different participants, sites, and contexts. The alternative – offering an ill-defined program and hoping for some unspecified socioemotional benefit to accrue – is unlikely to achieve results.

Third, just as a program is more likely to achieve its aims when built around a plausible theory of change, so too are initiatives or efforts comprised of many organizations working in concert. Given that arts education initiatives are often supported with public funds, educators and policymakers must be convinced of the initiatives’ potential prior to implementation and continued efficacy thereafter in order to provide support. Delineating the specific benefits of arts education initiatives to children’s socioemotional development aligns the expectations for these initiatives to the activities they offer and ensures that claims for these initiatives do not outpace the evidence for their likely effects.

These reasons could just as easily be cited to support an argument for a more thoughtful approach to understanding the benefits of the arts for children’s cognitive development, rather than their socioemotional development. Indeed, the boundary between cognitive and socioemotional development is often quite permeable: there is a cognitive component to most socioemotional skills and a socioemotional component to most cognitive abilities. Moreover, the effects of an arts education experience on a particular aspect of children’s socioemotional development (e.g., empathy) may be mediated by changes in children’s cognitive processes (e.g., theory of mind).

However, this paper focuses on arts education and children’s socioemotional development for two reasons. First, it is an area of burgeoning research interest, with an ever-increasing number of studies yielding findings that are now in need of conceptual organization. Second, it is also an area of emergent interest among educational practitioners and policymakers, and, as such, the socioemotional benefits of the arts have increasingly been cited in arguments that an education in the arts is an integral part of every child’s development (see, for example, the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, Articles 28 and 29). That said, many, if not all, aspects of our argument would apply equally well to research that seeks to understand the effects of arts education experiences on children’s cognitive development, and we would encourage researchers whose work focuses on arts education and cognitive development to employ an approach similar to that which we outline here.

The remainder of this paper is divided into two sections. The first section reviews three aspects of any arts education activity or program that must be considered to effectively delineate its benefits on children’s socioemotional development: (1) a sufficiently differentiated definition of the arts education activity; (2) the immediate context in which that activity occurs; and (3) the broader ecological or environmental context in which it occurs as well. The second section proposes how researchers might frame hypotheses about the likely effects of a specific arts education intervention on children’s socioemotional development using the example of the New Victory Theater’s Schools with Performing Arts Reach Kids (SPARK) program – a theater program offered to students in the upper elementary grades.

Delineating the Benefits of Arts Education

Toward a differentiated definition of arts education.

The first step in formulating precise hypotheses about the socioemotional benefits of arts education is to develop a differentiated definition of arts education activities and programs. While it may seem obvious that participation in a Ballet class is different than participation in a jazz music ensemble, as mentioned above, “arts education” is often treated as a monolith. Yet, there are not only distinctions both between art forms, but also within individual art forms as well (e.g., genre or tradition). It is an open question as to whether these differences cause variation in outcomes, and which elements of an arts class drive causal changes. Any researcher must decide at the outset, for example, whether they are interested in the holistic effects of a theater class, with its curriculum decided by experts in theater and its activities shaped over many years (e.g., Goldstein et al., 2017 ), or whether they would rather specify and isolate effects of an acting class via well-matched control groups and strictly-specified activities. Regardless, when discussing and reporting any research, details matter, as they define the specific opportunities for socioemotional development different arts education experiences and programs afford children ( Gibson, 1979 ; Jenkins, 2008 ). These include, for example, whether the arts activities were experienced as audience or performer, and whether the arts practice was informed by classical forms, modern techniques, or post-modern experimental methods.

Two reasons such differentiation is not regularly undertaken in research reporting is because of the sheer number of ways in which arts activities can be categorized, and a lack of knowledge of which of these categorizations matters for children’s development. To begin, there is the domain of an arts education experience: (1) visual arts, including painting, drawing, sculpture, and collage; (2) dance, including ballet, jazz, tap, hip-hop, modern, and choreography; (3) theater, including improvisation, classical, modern, experimental, and musical theater; and (4) music, including orchestral, pop, jazz, band, and improvisation, performed either instrumentally or vocally, as well as media. This, of course, is a short and introductory list of possibilities and subgenres. Some scholastic curricula also include digital media or culinary skills in the arts, or separate out creative writing such as poetry, drama, or fiction into the arts, while others include creative writing genres in drama or English language classes.

It is important when thinking about the contextual effects of different arts domains on outcomes to keep in mind that art forms are often combined in practice, professional presentation, and occasionally in the classroom. Poems are set to music. Staging an opera requires music, dance, acting, and make up, costumes, and designed sets. Thus, while arts education experiences can be categorized in ways that reflect the disciplinary boundaries of the arts themselves, the boundaries between those experiences may be more or less permeable than those encountered in the arts the arts themselves. Moreover, elements of the arts may be integrated into educational experiences that are primarily intended to convey knowledge about subjects outside of the arts, such as when the visual arts are used to teach geometry or when theater is used to enliven history lessons ( Hardiman et al., 2014 ; The Kennedy Center, 2020 ). While complex, studying how teachers separate and combine artistic domains will best allow researchers to approximate both the intricacies of real-world practice and the rigor necessary to form conclusions about how the arts affect socioemotional development.

Each domain of the arts has non-mutually exclusive characteristics which can specify effects. Music, theater, and dance are generally interpretative and collaborative. Musicians, dancers, and actors can perform solo or work in ensembles of many sizes, learning and interpreting a composer’s, choreographer’s, or playwright’s work. Visual artists, in contrast, tend to work more by themselves, generating material. However, visual artists can work in collectives, and music, dance, and theater all have the possibility of generating and/or improvising work as part of study. In fact, most theater classes begin with an improvisational warm up, and use the generation of text and behavior throughout rehearsal processes. Music and dance both rely on rhythm; theater and the visual arts contain figural and representative elements. Within each domain and genre, an additional element to consider is the time period or form on which the class is focused. Any class in these arts domains could focus on Western or Eastern classical works, the modern artistic revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries, or current experimental work. Like any area of study that continues to be informed by its own history, arts classes’ foci in time affect the type of work the student will engage in, their freedom of form and interpretation, and the rules they “should” follow. Whether these differences lead to distinct outcomes is unstudied at this point.

Similarly, there may be fundamental differences when a student actively participates in the creation of art, theater, dance, or music, compared to when they are simply in the audience or observing. While there is some evidence to suggest that both watching ( Greene et al., 2018 ) and participating ( Goldstein and Winner, 2012 ) in theater in middle childhood positively affects empathy, more studies are needed to replicate both effects, and this type of convergence may not hold for other art forms. Painting or walking through a museum, playing a violin or sitting in a concert hall, hours of physical practice or watching a Ballet are such significantly different behavioral and psychological activities, it would be very surprising if they caused the same effects.

One starting point for conceptualizing the real implications for social and emotional learning across and within art domains is by investigating the habits of mind fostered and supported by each. Habits of mind are cognitive patterns – domain general ways of thinking about problems, framing the world, and guiding behaviors ( Perkins et al., 1993 ). Intensive studies on habits of mind are well-established in the visual arts ( Hetland et al., 2015 ), with similar studies recently conducted in music ( Hogan and Winner, 2019 ) and theater ( Goldstein and Young, 2019 ). The similarities among art forms, such as their aesthetic and expressive components, have led some theorists to work toward a unification of the psychological components of art forms ( Brown, 2018 ), but practitioners may or may not agree. To this point, both visual arts and music have been found to employ the habits of mind of persistence (i.e., keep going at practice and working through a problem); imagination (of what changes in a musical performance or visual stimuli may look like); and expression of ideas and meaning ( Hetland et al., 2007, 2015 ; Hogan and Winner, 2019 ). But music may focus on building and creating ensemble while visual arts engage the use of careful observation and perception.

Finally, the “same” artistic activity can occur in many forms ( Greeno, 2006 ). To take an example from theater education, a child may study his character, memorize lines, rehearse scenes, informally perform for peers, or perform in a full-fledged production before an audience. Each of these activities has different experiential elements and immediate contexts, and, as such, may inculcate different states of arousal and incur different consequences. Thus, if researchers seek to build the evidence base for incorporating theater education into school curricula and youth programming, it is vital to understand which activities in which contexts have a measurable impact on what domains of socioemotional development among which children ( Holochwost et al., 2018 ).

The Role of Context

The immediate context.

Defining an arts education activity or program by differentiating it in terms of its domain and characteristics is an essential first step toward formulating hypotheses about that activity or program’s socioemotional benefits. The next step is to consider the immediate context in which that activity or program occurs. The purpose of this is to provide a deeper understanding of where, for whom, by whom, and how a specific arts education experience was offered. For example, a performing arts residency program could play out quite differently in an arts magnet elementary school and an elementary school that lost its arts programs a decade ago. Similarly, the impact of a performing arts program might be markedly different if classroom teachers are viewed chiefly as behavior managers and facilitators or if they are active participants in professional development sessions designed to transfer performing arts strategies to their daily instruction. Taken together, information on the immediate context helps to define the environment/ecology in which a program occurs, who is an active participant, and how the program was implemented.

One essential parameter of the immediate context of an arts education program or activity is the specific institutional setting in which that activity occurs. A good deal of arts education occurs in schools, but arts education also takes place in many other settings, from community arts organizations to cultural providers to children’s homes. Each of these settings has a particular arts learning profile , a configuration of characteristics that defines that setting as an immediate context for arts learning. For programs that occur in schools, elements of this profile include the adequacy of the physical space made available for the program, the level of support offered to the programs by classroom teachers and administrators, the history and prominence of arts education at the school, and whether arts education is part of the curriculum for all students or whether it is made available only to students who meet certain academic or behavioral standards. Merely knowing that a student participated in a program of music education at their school is insufficient; the arts learning profile of a school with no dedicated practice or performance space and a single, itinerant music teacher could not be more different than that of a well-resourced arts magnet school.

Another key parameter is whether there is someone who guides or directs the arts education program or activity. While some arts education experiences may be self-directed, even an apparently independent learning experience such as roaming a museum exhibit is guided by curatorial decisions and placard texts. However, many arts education experiences feature a more prominent guide in the form of a teacher or teaching artist, and in these cases that teacher’s characteristics become important aspects of the immediate context of arts education ( Diamond, 2015 ). These may include the teacher’s personal characteristics (e.g., gender and ethnic identities), training (both as an artist and an educator, including access to and use of professional development), their experience (again, as an artist and educator in general, but also as arts educator in comparable settings), and their role in the institutional setting (e.g., full-time faculty, itinerant faculty, or guest artist).

Finally, there are the characteristics of the program or activity as delivered in practice. As Diamond and Ling observed, “the ‘same’ program or intervention can be administered differently by different individuals,” and the benefits of any program to children’s socioemotional development will be determined by children’s experience in that program as it is delivered to them ( Diamond and Ling, 2020 , p. 366). The overall quality of that experience will be defined largely by its process quality ( Zaslow et al., 2010 ), or the patterns of interaction between teacher or teaching artist and child.

Studies of early education have consistently revealed that teachers’ sensitivity when interacting with children is the principal determinant of whether children derive benefits from early education programs ( Burchinal et al., 2000 ; Melhuish et al., 2015 ). Similarly, sports and athletic enrichment programs have been found to be most beneficial for children when coaches refrain from negative behaviors in their interactions with children (such as embarrassing children) and instead exhibit sensitive behaviors such as offering praise and encouragement, and emphasizing teamwork and enjoyment ( Smoll et al., 1993 ; Smith and Smoll, 1997 ). Indeed, the benefits children derive from any arts education program will be contingent upon their engagement in that program, and engagement is based, in part, on enjoyment ( Ericsson et al., 2009 ).

Even a very high-quality program must exceed some minimal threshold of dosage in order for it to yield benefits to children’s socioemotional development. Dosage may be defined by the frequency and duration of the program or activity across two time scales (minutes per experience and time between the first experience and the last). The dosage of arts education experiences ranges widely from a single field trip to see a performance to daily instruction that spans the course of childhood. All else being equal, higher dosage of an arts education program or experience would be expected to predict greater benefits to socioemotional development, but only when that program or experience clears some minimal threshold for dosage.

The Ecological or Environmental Context

As the prior section makes clear, arts education activities and programs are not untethered abstractions; they happen in a given institutional setting with a unique arts learning profile, and are delivered according to a particular model (which may include the presence of a teacher) at a particular dosage. Moreover, the immediate context in which arts education activities and programs occur is nested within a broader ecological or environmental context.

The most important component of this broader context is the child or children who are being educated, without whom any arts education activity or program cannot occur. The characteristics or features internal to the student or students are, therefore, a key aspect of ecological or environment context in which arts education occurs. Theoretically, almost any child factor could influence the potential for an arts education activity or program to benefit a particular domain of children’s socioemotional development. But some of those factors have proven most likely to have an effect in the greatest number of instances, beginning with the factors that are internal to the student.

Among these factors, age or developmental stage may be the most important influencer across the widest array of situations, due to the trajectories of different domains of socioemotional development. These trajectories influence how sensitive or malleable these domains are when a child participates in a particular arts education program or experience. Consider the example of self-concept. Even very young children have a concept of themselves; however, among young children self-concept is very broad and general. As children age, self-concept becomes increasingly nuanced. By middle childhood, children reliably differentiate between their self-concept with respect to academics and their self-concept in athletics; by adolescence, they see themselves differently in the context of different academic subjects ( Marsh and Ayotte, 2003 ; Marsh et al., 2018 ).

As a result, an arts education program designed to enhance academic self-concept among preschoolers could not reasonably be expected to achieve that aim, for the simple reason that children at this age do not have an academic self-concept to enhance. All else being equal, a program that targeted academic self-concept among adolescents would be more likely to succeed, if its design and implementation reflected not only the trajectory of self-concept across adolescence, but also the ways in which that trajectory, combined with the relative malleability or recalcitrance of different aspects of self-concept, rendered those aspects targeted the program more or less open to change. Across different areas, self-concept in adolescence generally follows a curvilinear trajectory, in which self-concept is more positive as children enter adolescence, becomes more negative as adolescence proceeds, and then recovers as it ends. Depending when during adolescence an arts education program occurred, it might be expected to have different effects, though the precise nature of those effects would depend on whether more positive or more negative self-concept would be expected to constrain or promote the program’s potential benefits.

Other particularly salient child factors include gender and racial/ethnic identity. Returning to the example of self-concept, a meta-analysis found that school-aged males exhibited slightly higher academic self-concept scores than females ( Wilgenbusch and Merrell, 1999 ). However, this overall difference masked the fact that this difference held only for academic self-concept with respect to mathematics; where English language arts was concerned, females reported higher levels of self-concept ( Stetsenko et al., 2000 ; Kurtz-Costes et al., 2008 ). Hence, expectations for arts education to benefit children’s self-concept may have to be conditioned on both gender and the specific area of academic self-concept (here, math vs. English) that a program sought to change.

Of course, while we may seek to isolate the influence of different child factors on socioemotional development in our research designs (e.g., by holding different factors constant), any number of idiographic perspectives (e.g., social identity theory) reveal that within any particular child, these factors occur together ( Sellers et al., 1998 ). That is, a child is not merely an adolescent, but a female adolescent (and many other things besides). The intersection of these factors will jointly impinge upon the effects of any arts education program on that child’s socioemotional development. For example, the magnitude of the gender difference in academic self-concept is three times larger in middle childhood (in males’ favor) than it is in adolescence ( Wilgenbusch and Merrell, 1999 ).

Moreover, the influence of these factors will in turn be affected by elements of the developmental ecology that are external to the child. Most salient among these is the child’s family. Many aspects of the family have been linked to children’s socioemotional development, from family structure ( Lee and McLanahan, 2015 ; Bzostek and Berger, 2017 ) to patterns of interaction between parents and children ( Bridgett et al., 2015 ). Other family factors that have received far less attention, such as whether there is an artist in the immediate or extended family, may be particularly salient influences on whether arts education benefits children’s socioemotional development.

One level removed from the family are the elements of the developmental ecology that comprise Bronfenbrenner’s exosystem: the child’s peer group, school, and neighborhood ( Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006 ). Each of these elements may also influence the impact of arts education of children’s socioemotional development, either directly or by impinging upon levels of the ecology that are more proximal to the child. For example, a lower-income family may reside in a neighborhood comprised of families with various incomes, or they may reside in a neighborhood of concentrated disadvantage. While the social comparison factors ( Festinger, 1954 ) that may accompany living in a mixed-income neighborhood should not be overlooked, growing up in an area of concentrated disadvantage exerts a direct and tangible effect on children’s socioemotional development, above and beyond the effects of familial socioeconomic status ( Carpiano et al., 2009 ; May et al., 2018 ). However, concentrated disadvantage may also exert an indirect effect on the benefits of an arts education program through its effects on child-level factors, by, for example, limiting a child’s access to arts education and thereby restricting their prior experience in the arts.

Figure 1 summarizes immediate and broader contextual factors discussed above that may promote or constrain the benefits of arts education programs or experiences for children’s socioemotional development. While this figure includes the factors discussed in the text, it is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all immediate and broader contextual factors that may impinge upon the benefits of arts education programs or experiences.

An external file that holds a picture, illustration, etc.
Object name is fpsyg-12-624712-g001.jpg

Graphical summary of immediate and broader contextual factors that may promote or constrain the benefits of arts education programs or experiences on children’s socioemotional development.

Formulating Hypotheses

Once a differentiated definition of a particular arts education experience or program has been established and the immediate and broader contexts in which that experience of program have been considered, the final step in formulating a hypothesis is to link that experience or program, as it occurs in those contexts, to a particular domain of children’s socioemotional development. Socioemotional development is typically defined quite broadly as “the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions” ( Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, 2021 ). This broad definition encompasses many distinguishable domains of development, including theory of mind, empathy, compassion, sympathy, emotion understanding, and self-regulation, to name a few. The challenge is to use theory and prior research, together with the definition of the arts education experience or program and knowledge about the contexts in which it occurs, to predict which domains of socioemotional development are most likely to be fostered by that experience or program. In the remainder of this paper, we use the example of the New Victory Theater’s SPARK Program to illustrate how this may be accomplished, and then provide a brief description of a research project designed to test the resulting hypotheses.

An Illustrative Example: the New Victory Theater’s Spark Program

A differentiated definition of the spark program.

The New Victory Theater’s SPARK program was designed to introduce the performance arts as a core element of the curriculum in schools without opportunities for arts education. The program was based around three performances that third-grade students attended over the course of a single school year, paired with 15, weekly, in-class workshops that were led by teaching artists (see immediate context below). These performances ranged from new plays and theatrical adaptations of existing stories (e.g., Mr. Popper’s Penguins ) to less narrative, performances like circus arts productions and dance revues. Over the course of the year, students saw a balanced slate of productions, including one narrative drama, one circus arts production, and one performing arts revue. Regardless of genre, these productions featured many performers who were people of color playing major roles, and the content of the productions drew on the artistic and performance traditions of many cultures.

In-class residency sessions focused on teaching students information and vocabulary related to the productions they would see and the human lessons those performances embodied. For example, prior to seeing the performance of the circus arts production, Mother Africa students learned about the varied African origins of the performers and the long years of daily practice that they spent gaining the circus skills they performed in the show. The residencies also featured activities closely related to the performances students would see. For example, before going to see a circus arts performance, students learned how to perform simple tricks like scarf juggling and plate spinning. Throughout each workshop session, teaching artists taught many interpersonal skills, including subtle ones such as not laughing or teasing when a peer made a mistake or suffered a setback. Teaching artists would often recall a scene or situation from one of the narrative productions (e.g., The Velveteen Rabbit ) and ask students to take the perspective of different characters, articulating those characters’ words and internal thoughts.

According to our differentiated definition, this was a theater program, but one that featured performance arts rather than theater alone. The predominant genre of works presented was modern, rather than historical or experimental, and many of the productions, as well as many of the activities featured in the workshops emphasized the human and ensemble nature of theater. Students’ participation in the program was multimodal: for the portion of the program in which they attended productions, students were members of the audience. However, students were also active participants during the residencies, contributing to generative theatrical and circus performance activities (rather than scripted activities).

The Immediate and Environmental Contexts of SPARK

As described above, the immediate context for an arts education program or activity is comprised of the specific institutional setting with its unique arts learning profile, the presence of a teacher and their characteristics, and the dosage of the experience. In the case of SPARK, there were two institutional settings for the program: the theater, where students attended the three productions, and their classrooms, where the residencies took place. The New Victory Theater is a historic venue that was transformed into a children’s theater in the mid-1990s. It is located on Broadway, in the heart of New York City’s theater district. It is widely regarded as one of the premiere children’s theaters in the world, and is especially well-known for presenting complex works to young audiences. For many years, the theater has run a program that recruits young people of color as ushers in the theater, offering them paid employment while training them for careers in the performing arts.

The children who participated in the program were in one of four classrooms (all in a single grade) at an elementary school that had been identified by the New York City School District as underperforming. The school had no arts teachers on its faculty (either full or part-time) and was not being served by any other community-based arts education partners. However, school administrators were interested in using the arts as a strategy to engage students and improve the overall performance of the school.

The residency sessions were led by pairs of teaching artists (TAs) who were actors and performers working in New York City. In a number of cases, these TAs were working in other productions while the residencies were in progress; one TA was featured in the Broadway production of The Lion King ; another was in the touring production of the Blue Man Group (as one of the Blue Men). In addition to the training they received when they were hired to be part of the SPARK program, TAs attended a series of professional development workshops presented by the New Victory Theater over the course of the program year.

The residency sessions were delivered during the school day, and generally during English language arts instruction. The same pair of TAs was assigned to the same classroom(s) throughout the school year. Classroom teachers and any paraprofessional remained in the classroom during the residency sessions, though their levels of involvement varied considerably. To foster a closer working relationship with the classroom teachers, the New Victory Theater hosted three teacher workshops over the course of the school year. The sessions lasted a full class session (approximately 40 min) and 15 sessions were held between October and May. These parameters of the immediate context are summarized in Table 1 .

Definitional and contextual parameters of an arts education experience.


Differentiated Definition of Arts Education
Domain	Theater
Genre/tradition/methods (e.g., classical, modern)	Mix of narrative and performance-art productions featuring the arts of many cultures
Combinations	Theater productions encompassing other disciplines (e.g., visual arts in set design), music, and dance
Characteristics	Performance and residencies were group activities Children were audience members at performances and participants in the residency sessions
Immediate Context of a Program or Experience
Specific institutional setting (e.g., school)	The New Victory Theater: Partner School:
Presence/characteristics of teachers/teaching artists:	Teaching artists (TAs) were actors and performers TAs received initial training and attended a series of professional development workshops at the New Victory Theater
Program Characteristics	Performances: Residency:
Dosage	Performances: Residency:
Broader Context of a Program or Experience
Child characteristics	Children were in third grade 60% of students identified as female 76% of students identified as Hispanic, and 20% identified as Black
Exosystem factors
	90% of children attending the school received free or reduced-price lunch 57% of families with children in the school’s zip code were living in poverty

In the year that we worked with the program, the children who participating in it were in third grade. Students in fourth grade comprised a comparison group, and though these students attended one performance at the theater, they did not attend the other two, nor did they receive the in-class residency. Across these two groups, approximately 60% of the students were female; nearly all children who attended the school were of color (20% Black and 76% Hispanic). Over 90% of the students who attended the school received free or reduced-price lunch, and the school is located in an area of concentrated economic disadvantage (57% of families with children in the zip code in which the school is located were living in poverty).

Hypotheses About the Program’s Effects

We anticipated that participating in the SPARK program would confer benefits across a number of domains of socioemotional development. For purposes of illustration, we will focus on how we formulated hypotheses about the potential for the program to foster students’ social awareness and relationship skills.

We defined social awareness and relationship skills as the abilities to take others’ perspective, to empathize with them, and to form positive relationships with their peers. On the basis of prior research, we hypothesized that participating in SPARK would be associated with an enhanced capacity to take others’ perspectives ( Goldstein et al., 2013 ; Greene et al., 2018 ), higher levels of empathy ( Goldstein and Winner, 2012 ), and more positive peer relations ( DICE Consortium, 2010 ). Given that previous research has demonstrated the potential for attending a single theatrical performance to improve aspects of children’s perspective-taking abilities ( Greene et al., 2018 ), we acknowledged that students assigned to the comparison group might exhibit improvements over baseline in this domain. However, we anticipated that the opportunity of treatment group students to attend multiple productions and participate in the residencies would lead to still greater gains.

We then refined this hypothesis in light of the differentiated definition of the SPARK program and both the immediate and broader contexts of the program. We anticipated that three specific aspects of the program might amplify its capacity to foster students’ social awareness and relationship skills. First, the productions students attended introduced students to the arts of different cultures and the capacity of human beings to imagine new possibilities. Second, the residencies explored the lives of both the performers and the characters included in the narrative productions. Third and finally, the residencies required that all students engage collaboratively in unfamiliar activities (e.g., scarf juggling) in front of their peers. We anticipated that by making each student vulnerable, the likelihood that each student would feel empathy for their peers when it was their turn to be vulnerable would be increased, while having students work together to accomplish these activities (and thereby mitigate their vulnerability) increased the chances that they would form supportive relationships with one another.

As for the immediate context, we expected that the arts learning profiles of the two settings in which the program occurred – the New Victory Theater and the students’ school – would work in tandem to further enhance the potential for the program to foster students’ social awareness and relationship skills. For nearly all students who participated in the program, attending the New Victory Theater was the first time they had traveled to New York City’s theater district, and, as such, represented an opportunity to increase their social awareness by seeing people doing things they had never seen a person do before (e.g., ride a unicycle, do a backflip, or deliver lines onstage). While this may be an eye-opening experience for any student, for a student from a school with no arts faculty and no other partnership programs, it may be revelatory.

In a similar vein, we anticipated that increases in students’ social awareness might be rendered more likely due to the characteristics of their teaching artists. Throughout the program, students displayed a keen interest in understanding how performers came to be able to do the amazing things they did during the shows students saw. When given the opportunity after each show to talk to the performers, students would ask them, but this topic would also come up once students discovered the TAs were talented performers in their own right. The delivery model for the program, in which TAs worked with the same classroom of students over the course of the year, allowed this initial curiosity to develop into an increased understanding of the TAs’ training and background on the part of the students, as well as the students’ interests and aspirations on the part of the TAs. Other aspects of the delivery model led us to expect that students would form positive relationships with each other. One of these was the fact that students attended performances as a classroom, providing them with a common touchstone of a special, shared experience. Another was that the residency occurred in students’ classrooms, allowing for the possibility that positive relationships formed in the context of the residency could carry-over to the broader context of the classroom when the residency was not in session.

Finally, there is the broader context, beginning with the characteristics of the child. The children in SPARK were in third grade at the time of their participation in the program, an age when social awareness and relationship skills are undergoing rapid consolidation ( Collins, 1984 ). The fact that SPARK coincided with a sensitive period for the development of these skills raised the likelihood that the program would improve them. In our estimation, so too did two aspects of the environmental context. First, there was the fact that children participating in the program were almost entirely children of color who are, therefore, more likely to experience the types of racism and exclusion that can erode relationship skills ( Pachter et al., 2010 ). Second, the children were disproportionately likely to be from families in poverty, another factor that can impede the development of relationship skills ( Moilanen et al., 2010 ). We reasoned that the opportunity to participate in the SPARK program might mitigate the effects of racism and poverty on these skills, and that the magnitude of this effect may be larger, given the participants’ backgrounds of relative disadvantage ( Catterall, 2012 ; Greene et al., 2013 ).

To test these hypotheses, we collected data from two groups of students: third-grade students who attended the productions at the New Victory Theater and participated in the residencies (designated as the treatment group) and their fourth-grade peers at the same school, who only attended the productions and were, therefore, designated as the comparison group. Prior to and following the program, students in the treatment group completed a set of measures designed to yield both quantitative and qualitative data; students in the comparison group completed the same measures according to the same schedule. In general, measures that yielded quantitative data were taken from existing measures (e.g., the empathy subscale from the Social Skills Rating Scales, or SSIS; Gresham and Elliott, 2008 ). However, we also designed a set of complementary measures that could yield richer information about the impacts of the program on children’s social awareness and relationship skills. For example, students completed an ecogram in which they were asked to imagine that they were forming their own theater company, and to assign classmates to the roles of actors, playwrights, directors, and designers. A structured sub-sample of students also completed a task in which they narrated a short, silent film that portrayed a character trying to escape from a mysteriously and invisibly locked park. Researchers instructed students to explain not only what was happening in the film, but what the character was thinking, feeling, and planning. The resulting stories were coded for information about the character’s internal states and life circumstances beyond what was shown in the film.

At this point, our data collection has concluded, but our analyses are ongoing. Regardless of the specific nature of the results ultimately yielded by these analyses, our ability to interpret those results will be enhanced by having formulated hypotheses that account for the differentiated definition of the arts education activity children experienced, and both the immediate and broader contexts in which that activity occurred. While all researchers prefer positive findings – in part because they are easier to publish – the field of arts education research is advanced more rapidly by studies with precisely-articulated hypotheses that yield null findings than studies featuring positive findings that are poorly motivated and contextualized and, therefore, difficult to interpret.

As this example illustrates, using a differentiated definition of an arts education program and considering its immediate and broader contexts to specify the benefits of that program on children’s socioemotional development allows us to formulate more precise hypotheses about not only what benefits those programs may confer, but how those benefits may be conferred. This understanding is a pre-requisite for the intentional design of arts experiences designed to yield a particular benefit and for understanding how definitional and contextual factors make the realization of that benefit more or less likely. Just as important, this understanding is a hallmark of a maturing science, one that is able to progress beyond the observation of a phenomenon – such as the association between arts education and child development – to offering an explanation of that phenomenon.

As our example suggests, the promotion of socioemotional development through arts education may be an equifinal phenomenon, one in which many pathways lead to the same end. However, that does not lessen the value of understanding each of those pathways, as each may be the most efficient route to a particular socioemotional end for a particular population of children. At present, many of those paths are uncharted; for example, as a field we know very little about how the alignment of the cultures featured in performances and the cultures of origin for the children attending those performances might impact the likelihood of developmental in a particular socioemotional domain, just as we know little about the importance of students of color seeing performances by people who are also of color, or the marginal benefit of increased dosage for a particular domain of socioemotional development. However, by formulating precise hypotheses about the effects of arts education on children’s socioemotional development, we increase our chances of answering them in the fullness of time.

Data Availability Statement

Author contributions.

SH, TG, and DW conceptualized this manuscript. SH prepared the initial draft of the manuscript, to which all authors subsequently made contributions. All authors contributed to the article and approved the submitted version.

Conflict of Interest

SH and DW were employed by company WolfBrown.

The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the staff of the New Victory Theater and the teaching artists, classroom teachers, and students of the SPARK program.

Funding. This research was supported by the Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation.

Bridgett D. J., Burt N. M., Edwards E. S., Deater-Deckard K. (2015). Intergenerational transmission of self-regulation: a multidisciplinary review and integrative conceptual framework . Psychol. Bull. 141 , 602–654. 10.1037/a0038662, PMID: [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Bronfenbrenner U., Morris P. A. (2006). “ The Bioecological Model of Human Development, ” in Handbook of Child Psychology: Theoretical Models of Human Development . eds. Lerner R. M., Damon W. (New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons Inc.), 793–828. [ Google Scholar ]
Brown S. (2018). Toward a unification of the arts . Front. Psychol. 9 :1938. 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01938, PMID: [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Burchinal M. R., Roberts J. E., Riggins R., Jr., Zeisel S. A., Neebe E., Bryant D. (2000). Relating quality of center-based child care to early cognitive and language development longitudinally . Child Dev. 71 , 339–357. 10.1111/1467-8624.00149, PMID: [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Bzostek S. H., Berger L. M. (2017). Family structure experiences and child socioemotional development during the first nine years of life: examining heterogeneity by family structure at birth . Demography 54 , 513–540. 10.1007/s13524-017-0563-5, PMID: [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Carpiano R. M., Lloyd J. E. V., Hertzman C. (2009). Concentrated affluence, concentrated disadvantage, and children’s readiness for school: A population-based, multi-level investigation . Soc. Sci. Med. 69 , 420–432. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.05.028, PMID: [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Catterall J. S. (2012). The Arts and Achievement in At-Risk Youth: Findings From Four Longitudinal Studies (National Endowment for the Arts Research Report #55). Washington, DC: National Endowment for the Arts.
Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (2021). What is SEL? Available at: https://casel.org/what-is-sel/ (Accessed January 7, 2021).
Collins A. W. (1984). Development During Middle Childhood: The Years From Six to Twelve . Washington, DC: National Academies Press. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
Diamond A. (2015). Research that helps move us closer to a world where each child thrives . Res. Hum. Dev. 12 , 288–294. 10.1080/15427609.2015.1068034, PMID: [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Diamond A., Ling D. S. (2020). “ Review of Evidence on, and Fundamental Questions About, Efforts to Improve Executive Functions, Including Working Memory, ” in Cognitive and Working Memory Training: Perspectives From Psychology, Neuroscience, and Human Development . eds. Novick J. M., Bunting M. F., Dougherty M. R., Engle R. W. (London: Oxford University Press; ), 143–431. [ Google Scholar ]
DICE Consortium (2010). The DICE Has Been Cast: Research Findings and Recommendations on Educational Theatre and Drama . Budapest.
Ericsson K. A., Nandagopal K., Raring R. W. (2009). Toward a science of exceptional achievement: attaining superior performance through deliberate practice . Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci. 1172 , 199–217. 10.1196/annals.1393.001, PMID: [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Farrington C. A., Maurer J., McBride M. R. A., Nagaoka J., Puller J. S., Shewfelt S., et al.. (2019). Arts Education and Social-Emotional Learning Outcomes Among K–12 Students: Developing a Theory of Action . Chicago, IL: Ingenuity and the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. [ Google Scholar ]
Festinger L. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes . Hum. Relat. 7 , 117–140. 10.1177/001872675400700202 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Gibson J. J. (1979). The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception . Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. [ Google Scholar ]
Goldstein T. R., Lerner M. D., Winner E. (2017). The arts as a venue for developmental science: realizing a latent opportunity . Child Dev. 88 , 1505–1512. 10.1111/cdev.12884, PMID: [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Goldstein T. R., Tamir M., Winner E. (2013). Expressive suppression and acting classes . Psychol. Aesthet. Creat. Arts 7 , 191–196. 10.1037/a0030209 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Goldstein T. R., Winner E. (2012). Enhancing empathy and theory of mind . J. Cogn. Dev. 13 , 19–37. 10.1080/15248372.2011.573514 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Goldstein T. R., Young D. (2019). Theatrical Thinking: A Mixed Methods Study of Teacher Perceptions and Actual Classroom Strategies. Chicago, IL: American Psychological Association Annual Convention.
Greene J. P., Erickson H. H., Watson A. R., Beck M. I. (2018). The play’s the thing: experimentally examining the social and cognitive effects of school field trips to live theater performances . Educ. Res. 47 , 246–254. 10.3102/0013189X18761034 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Greene J. P., Kisida B., Bowen D. H. (2013). The educational value of field trips . Educ. Next 14 , 78–86. [ Google Scholar ]
Greeno J. G. (2006). “ Learning in Activity ,” in The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences . ed. Sawyer R. K. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; ), 79–96. [ Google Scholar ]
Gresham F., Elliott S. N. (2008). Social Skills Improvement Systems . San Antonio, TX: Pearson. [ Google Scholar ]
Hardiman M., Rinne L., Yarmolinskaya J. (2014). The effects of arts integration on long-term effects of academic content . Mind Brain Educ. 8 , 144–148. 10.1111/mbe.12053 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Hetland L., Winner E., Veenema S., Sheridan K. M. (2015). Studio Thinking 2: The Real Benefits of Visual Arts Education . New York, NY: Teachers College Press. [ Google Scholar ]
Hogan J., Winner E. (2019). “ Habits of Mind as a Framework for Assessment in Music Education, ” in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical and Qualitative Assessment in Music Education . eds. Elliott D. J., Silverman M., McPherson G. E. (Oxford University Press; ), 203. [ Google Scholar ]
Holochwost S. J., Wolf D. P., Fisher K. R., O’Grady K., Gagnier K. M. (2018). “ The Arts and Socioemotional Development: Evaluating a New Mandate for Arts Education ,” in Arts Evaluation and Assessment: Measuring Impact in Schools and Communities . eds. Rajan R. S., O’Neal I. C. (New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan; ), 147–180. [ Google Scholar ]
Jenkins H. S. (2008). Gibson’s “affordances:” evolution of a pivotal concept . J. Sci. Psychol. 12 , 34–45. [ Google Scholar ]
Kurtz-Costes B., Rowley S. J., Harris-Britt A., Woods T. A. (2008). Gender stereotypes about mathematics and self-perceptions of ability in late childhood and early adolescence . Merrill-Palmer Q. 54 , 386–409. 10.1353/mpq.0.0001 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Lee D., McLanahan S. (2015). Family structure transitions and child development: instability, selection, and population heterogeneity . Am. Sociol. Rev. 80 , 738–763. 10.1177/0003122415592129, PMID: [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Marsh H. W., Ayotte V. (2003). Do multiple dimensions of self-concept become more differentiated with age? The differential distinctiveness hypothesis . J. Educ. Psychol. 95 , 687–706. 10.1037/0022-0663.95.4.687 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Marsh H. W., Pekrun R., Murayama K., Arens K. A., Parker P. D., Guo J., et al.. (2018). An integrated model of academic selfconcept development: academic self-concept, grades, test scores, and tracking over six years . Dev. Psychol. 54 , 263–280. 10.1037/dev0000393, PMID: [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
May E. M., Azar S. T., Matthews S. A. (2018). How does the neighborhood "come through the door?" concentrated disadvantage, residential instability, and the home environment for preschoolers . Am. J. Community Psychol. 61 , 218–228. 10.1002/ajcp.12223, PMID: [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Melhuish E., Ereky-Stevens P., Penderi A., Rentzo T., Slot B., Leseman P. (2015). A Review of Research on the Effects of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) Upon Child Development. Child Care Canada. Available at: http://childcarecanada.org/documents/research-policy-practice/15/10/effects-early-childhood-education-and-care-child-development (Accessed February 13, 2021).
Moilanen K. L., Shaw D. S., Maxwell K. L. (2010). Developmental cascades: externalizing, internalizing, and academic competence from middle childhood to early adolescence . Dev. Psychopathol. 22 , 635–653. 10.1017/S0954579410000337, PMID: [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Pachter L. M., Bernstein B. A., Szalacha L. A., García Coll C. (2010). Perceived racism and discrimination in children and youths: an exploratory study . Health Soc. Work 35 , 61–69. 10.1093/hsw/35.1.61, PMID: [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Perkins D. N., Jay E., Tishman S. (1993). Beyond abilities: A dispositional theory of thinking . Merrill-Palmer Q. 39 , 1–21. [ Google Scholar ]
Sellers R. M., Chavous T. M., Cooke D. Y. (1998). Racial ideology and racial centrality as predictors of African American college students’ academic performance . J. Black Psychol. 24 , 8–27. 10.1177/00957984980241002 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Smith R. E., Smoll F. L. (1997). Coaching the coaches: youth sports as a scientific and applied behavioral setting . Curr. Dir. Psychol. Sci. 6 , 16–21. 10.1111/1467-8721.ep11512606 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Smoll F. L., Smith R. E., Barnett N. P., Everett J. J. (1993). Enhancement of children’s self-esteem through social support training for youth sport coaches . J. Appl. Psychol. 78 , 602–610. 10.1037/0021-9010.78.4.602, PMID: [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Stetsenko A., Little T., Gordeeva T., Grasshof M., Oettingen G. (2000). Gender effects in children’s beliefs about school performance: A cross-cultural study . Child Dev. 71 , 517–527. 10.1111/1467-8624.00161, PMID: [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
The Kennedy Center (2020). What is Arts Integration? Available at: https://www.kennedy-center.org/education/resources-for-educators/classroom-resources/articles-and-how-tos/articles/collections/arts-integration-resources/what-is-arts-integration/ (Accessed November 22, 2020).
Wilgenbusch T., Merrell K. W. (1999). Gender differences in self-concept among children and adolescents: a meta-analysis of multidimensional studies . Sch. Psychol. Q. 14 , 101–120. 10.1037/h0089000 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
Zaslow M., Tout K., Martinez-Beck I. (2010). Measuring the Quality of Early Care and Education Programs at the Intersection of Research, Policy, and Practice. (OPRE Research-to-Policy, Research-to-Practice Brief OPRE 2011-10a). Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

136 Irving Street Cambridge, MA 02138

New Report Makes the Case for Arts Education: Recommends Access for All

In the 20 years since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 defined “arts” as a “core academic subject,” and the six years since the Every Student Succeeds Act declared them as part of a “well-rounded education,” arts education in American public schools has shrunk dramatically. The Commission on the Arts, at the American Academy of Arts & Sciences, says we are at a crisis point, where access to arts education is declining steadily—and action must be taken to reverse the trend.

In 2018, the American Academy of Arts & Sciences convened a Commission on the Arts to examine the state of arts education in the United States, and to assess the need for greater support. The Commission ultimately focused on the challenges of access to arts education in public schools.

The resulting report, Art for Life’s Sake: The Case for Arts Education , finds ample evidence for the attributes, values, and skills that come from arts education, including social and emotional development, improvements in school engagement, as well as more vital civic and social engagement. It also offers concrete recommendations to improve educational policy at the local, state, and national levels.

The Commission is chaired by three Academy members: actor and author John Lithgow , Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts President Deborah Rutter , and two-time United States Poet Laureate, Natasha Trethewey . They led a group of 38 other artists, scholars, and activists, all of whom contributed their time and expertise to this multi-year effort.

Art for Life’s Sake documents a persistent decline in access. While 88% of Americans agree that arts education is an essential component of a well-rounded education, there has been a persistent decline in support for arts education, particularly in communities that cannot finance it on their own.

“Americans understand the value of an education that includes the arts,” says Rutter, “but we as a nation have not established sustainable educational policies that make it possible for all students to receive the education they need.”

“We want every child to have access to music, paintings, writing, theater—all the arts—regardless of their socio-economic circumstances,” says Lithgow. “We want all American children to learn how to express themselves and to understand the ways in which others express themselves.”

To reverse negative trends, the Commission on the Arts is issuing a set of policy recommendations in six key areas for local, state, and national elected leaders to embrace.

Make the Arts an Important Part of Every Child’s Education by offering a diverse set of arts classes and including arts among the core distribution requirements.
Elevate the Role of the Arts through Data, Research, and Accountability at the federal, state, and school district levels, and reform accountability systems to incorporate arts education into the range of outcomes schools cultivate.
Ensure Arts Education Funding Is Adequate and Equitable through substantial economic support for public education and adequate funding mechanisms at the state and local level.
Recruit, Develop, and Support Arts Educators by establishing policy and funding priorities to increase the availability of arts educators, especially those from underrepresented groups.
Foster Collaboration within the Arts Education Landscape through adequately funded arts-based school-community partnerships.
Restore Federal Leadership in the Arts through increased funding, the reinstatement of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and a national celebration of arts education.

“Ultimately, arts education must be a group effort, a partnership in every community,” says Trethewey. “ Art for Life’s Sake offers strong recommendations to our policymakers and calls on our public institutions to make a greater effort. At the same time, it acknowledges that museums, community centers, and other stakeholders have an important role to play in the dissemination of the arts in our public schools.”

“ Arts education is not simply a training ground for future artists. It is a critical element in the education of every American, an important window on the wider world,” said Academy president David Oxtoby. “The American Academy of Arts & Sciences is grateful for the work of the commission members who produced this report and determined to help find a way to make arts education more accessible to every student.”

The Commission is funded by the Barr Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Getty Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Kresge Foundation, and Roger and Victoria Sant.

Contact: Alison Franklin / [email protected]

Commission on the Arts

The Commission on the Arts is a multi-year project with distinguished cochairs, more than $1 million of support from foundations and individuals, and a commitment to exploring the role of the arts in American life, with an emphasis on arts education and infrastructure.

Art for Life’s Sake

Congressional briefing: the value of equitable arts education, now what an action plan for advancing arts education.

English Dutch
How to get access / subscribe
Long-term Archiving
Librarian FAQs
Customer Services
Open Access
Proceedings
Collections
How to subscribe
Get in touch
Journals A-Z
Open Access Journals
General Information
Publish with AUP
Ethics and malpractice statement
Conference Proceedings
Social Sciences and Humanities Proceedings
Conference Proceeding

The 5th International Conference on Art Studies: Research, Experience, Education (ICASSEE 2021)

Preface: The phenomenon of art as seen by scientists, artists, and educators

The proceedings “Art Studies: Research, Experience, Education” are the result of the 5th International Scientific Conference that took place at the State Institute for Art Studies (Moscow, Russia) on September 9-10, 2021. It was jointly organized by the State Institute for Art Studies, the China Academy of Art, and the International Scientific and Cultural Centre for Academic Contacts. The conference was held online on the Zoom platform.

The conference was attended by the representatives of research institutions, universities for arts and humanities and museums from Belarus, the United Kingdom, Italy, Kazakhstan, China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, and Japan. The scope, the diversity of methodological approaches, and the opportunity to tackle the main issues of art history from different perspectives were the key characteristic features of this scientific forum. The organizers of the conference aimed to bring together art experts of different fields into a discussion to present and discuss research, developments, and innovations in the field of contemporary art studies, art practice and artistic education. Continue reading...

View Organisational Board

Prof., Dr. Galima Lukina (Editor In Chief)

Conference date: September 9, 2021 - September 10, 2021
Location: Moscow, Russia
ISBN: 9789048557240
Volume number: 1
Published: 31 December 2021

1 - 20 of 46 results

The Texture of Space and Its Aura

The article explores the extent to which objects in real life, as well as those involved in the sphere of artistic space, are capable of being a source of an aura. The aura revives an object, it sends an emanation of a certain state of spirit (Plotinus), gives rise to vivid impulses, excites the imagination of the viewer and engages him in an unaccountable dialogue with the object. The human meanings of being expressed by art are fundamentally indecipherable, that is, they cannot be translated from the "coded" language of art into the language of already familiar concepts. The texture of a work of art can be described in detail. Meanwhile, the aura is verbally inexpressible. The tense relationship between the specific texture of a piece of artwork and its aura, as well as the different forms of this relationship, is the subject of the author's research.

Add to my favourites

The Dialogues Between the Verbal and the Visual in the Artworks of Vladimir Makovsky (1846-1920)

Painting and literature are often viewed as two different types of art, but the line between them is rather arbitrary. The classification dichotomy of the painting and the literature is associated with the traditional division of the arts and the prevailing aesthetic experience. In the second half of the 19th century, the writer and the artist worked in a single space of narrative and visual imagery. In this paper, the author analyzes the parallels between the paintings of Russian artist Vladimir Makovsky (1846—1920) and the texts of Russian writers of the 19th century. The research describes not only specific parallels of verbal and visual texts, but also analogs of rhetorical figures and visual tropes. The semantic content of many works by V. Makovsky is polysyllabic. A special role here belongs to metaphors, antitheses, hyperboles and comparisons. Paintings by V. Makovsky require an analytical approach from the viewer, reflection of the literary text. In this regard, the works of V. Makovsky literally "read" by the viewer.

The Basic Features of Traditional Chinese Landscape Painting

Whether at the academic level or the practical creation level of traditional landscape painting, it is very important to comprehensively summarize and analyze the basic characteristics of traditional Chinese landscape painting. This research summarizes the basic characteristics of traditional Chinese landscape painting into four aspects: "creating environment" and "freehand brushwork"; observation, perception and taste: unique ways of cognition of the world; managing position and describing objects and shaping: unique picture processing methods; tool materials and brush and ink language: unique artistic effects. In other words, only by having a deeper understanding of the basic characteristics of traditional Chinese landscape painting can people have a deeper grasp of the spirit of Chinese art. This is also the basic condition for the establishment of so-called cultural confidence today.

The Church in the Village of Krym and Its Place in the Architecture of Don Armenians

The research of peculiarities of the architecture of a less-studied monument of architecture of Don Armenians, the church of Amenaprkich (All-Savior) in the village of Krym (Topty), 1895-1902, is aimed to the understanding of its place in the architecture of Don Armenians and in the shaping of the Armenian style of the Modern Time. The analysis of the composition and decoration of this church reveals bright talents of its anonymous architect. The singularity of this monument provides it a special place on the background of the development of Russian, and Armenian architecture. On one hand, the typology of the church in Krym is a simplified model of the inner composition of the Ejmiatsin Cathedral. On the other hand, its façade decoration has the most similarity to the Surb Karapet Church in Nakhichevan-on-Don. Borrowing a rare feature of the façade design of a drawing from the album by D.I. Grimm makes the church in Krym related to this monument of Nakhichevan-on-Don, testifies to the popularity of this album of drawings of Armenian and Georgian monuments. The creative search for a new language of Armenian architecture by architects and customers was complicated with the development of several style trends in the country, which enriched the palette and scope of creative searches. Amenaprkich is an example of the development along the path of incrementing the features of traditional Armenian-Georgian architecture to the Classicist and generally eclectic Russian architecture of the period in question.

Architecture of Sensory Experience in Contemporary Japan. Restoration of National Traditions

The article provides an attempt to trace a typical tendency of Japanese architects to restore such important characteristic of the national culture as sensory experience in the contemporary architecture; this experience lays in the foundation of cultural traditions and shapes a unique spirit of a certain work of art. This characteristic, unobvious from the European perspective, perfectly reveals the very essence of Japanese culture. Throughout the history of Japanese culture, sensory experience, even tactile sensations, has been defining both traditional rites and ceremonies, and adopted knowledge and skills. For the contemporary Japanese architects, such return of sensory experience to architecture is a chance to keep cultural traditions and to oppose them to the global urban changes, creating the architecture, the artistic experience and space organization of which allow people to get personal experience of its direct perception.

On One Architectural Description Given by P. Pallas

The article is devoted to the description of the destroyed Great Mosque in the Crimean city of Kefe, made at the end of the 18th century by academician P.S. Pallas. This document is used to this day to reconstruct the appearance of the building, although its content contradicts the architectural logic. Pallas's description does not match the range of textual and pictorial evidence left by his contemporaries. The whole complex of sources is considered and a conclusion is made about the unreliability of this description as a basis for the reconstruction of the main architectural volume of the mosque.

Griffin's Artistic Style in the Early Mythologies and Epics in the Tigris and Euphrates

In recent years, Griffin's artistic style has attracted renewed attention due to the increased exchanges between China and the West. Especially after the 21st century, the recent archaeological discoveries of the diverse Griffin carvings on large palaces and temple buildings in Turkey provide strong support for the ongoing study. Griffin appeared in the myths and epics of the early Tigris and Euphrates: the Akkad, the Assyrian Empire, and the Babylonian Empire, which had great impact on ancient Egyptian civilization and ancient Greek culture to the west. In the process of spreading to the east, it gradually merged with the grassland culture and influenced the East Asian artistic style. This paper, from the perspective of art history, discusses the artistic style of Griffin's images in the early myths and epics of the Tigris and Euphrates, which is helpful to the further understanding of a large number of winged deities in Eurasia.

Looking for Jing Hao. Centering on the Art Investigation of Taihang Mountains and New Interpretation of Jing Hao's "Kuanglu Tu"

Grand Canyon of Taihang Mountains is a world-famous mountain and river, an outstanding landmark in the history of Chinese landscape painting and a model of artistic creation. It has epic praises of the motherland's beautiful schematism, known as the "Taihang Spirit" in history. According to Jing Hao's tour of the Grand Canyon of Taihang Mountains and the prototype mountain range of the handed-down work "Kuanglu Tu", this article focuses on the cultural connotation. Combined with Jing Hao's "The Writing of Brushwork", this article comprehensively explains the Taihang Mountains and the literati's writings of the famous mountains and rivers of the motherland. The author records the process of "Looking for Jing Hao" through fieldwork. And Jing Hao's handed-down work "Kuanglu Tu" and his "The Writing of Brushwork" are the most representative combination of theory and practice from the later Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, which inspired the author to go back to the Grand Canyon of Taihang Mountains for field investigation and sketching, to interpret the process from theory and practice, and to explore the traces of Jing Hao's activities. This article is of great influence on painting history and painting theory.

Ta'zieh as a Subject of Interdisciplinary Research

This essay for the first time discusses the Eastern theatrical tradition which synthesizes multiple arts relative to theatre - such as music, poetry, dance, singing, costume design, etc. Ta'zieh, the medieval mystery play performed by Shi'a Muslims, is a prominent example of this approach. The sympathy is expressed by recitation, and performing the full ritual, which has later evolved into the theatrical performance. The Shi'a mourning ceremonies combine the features of both a religious rite and a theatrical performance culminating in the staged representation of the battle of Karbala in the form of a passion play (shabih). It merges the religious beliefs with the ancient folk heritage. All these elements have contributed to the formation and development of the mystery play that consists of three distinct parts: mourning recitations, processions and stage representation.

National Cultural Identity: a Study of "Shao Music" in the Period of Yu Shun

"Shao Music", also known as "Xiao Shao", eulogized Shun's benevolence, which was the main way for Shun to "subdue Youmiao". Confucius praised him for "giving benevolence all over" to make Youmiao obedient. However, it was puzzling to use Ganqi dance to make Youmiao retreat. Qu Yuan also confused about the reasons why Ganqi dance can make Youmiao obedient. From the perspective of national cultural identity, this paper analyzes and studies the connotation, form, function and value of Shao Music in the period of Yu Shun with the help of ancient books, and human beings can realize Yu Shun's moral and political concept in ancient times through Shao Music. The "music education", "ruling the world by virtue" and "cultural identity" contained in Shao music are the inexhaustible spiritual and cultural wealth left by Yu Shun.

Annual Nature Cycle vs Human Life Cycle: Female Ritual Singing in the Seasonal Cycle Among Russians

The article elaborates the following theses: 1. The fact that the seasonal songs are performed mainly by women of different age groups, is related, in our opinion, to the dominant cult of earth among Russians as an agricultural people, for whom earth is associated with the feminine side and motherhood (hence the idiomatic expression mat' sïra zemlya – 'damp Mother Earth'). 2. In Russian folk culture, the annual nature cycle is conceived by analogy with the human life cycle; this is manifested in the tradition to correlate seasonal ritual genres to particular age groups of performers. 3. The mode of vocalization and performance of seasonal ritual songs depends on the singers' gender/age status and on the perception of their singing skills.

History of Creation and Publication of Songs by Chopin

The article examines the history of the creation and publication of Chopin’s songs. It has been known for the fact that according to the testament of the composer, all unpublished compositions were to be burned, however, fortunately, his friends insisted on their conservation and Julian Fontana collected many versions of songs, edited and published them in 1859 under the posthumous opus 74. Certainly, the song works by Chopin were episodic and in comparison with the other genres, more than modest, but it does not diminish its values; Chopin himself collected and edited songs, preparing for their publication but now we know his songs partly in reconstructions. They all are grouped around three stages of his life: youthful experiences, his emigration and passion to Maria Wodzińska and George Sand. The genres, defining the stylistic specificity in the songs, were primarily the mazurka in all its varieties, and the ballad. Chopin’ songs are characteristic and diverse, and their interpretation puts very difficult tasks for the performers, despite their seeming “lightness”.

Interpretation of the Chanting Principle in the Intonational Structure of Sergey Taneyev's Piano Quintet

Based on the analysis of the intonational structure of Sergey Taneyev's piano quintet, the author of the present article explains the features of the composer's interpretation of the idea of ensemble. Sergey Taneyev's well-balanced composition frames and organizes the musical flow, reflecting the undying persistence of a human spirit. In Taneyev's interpretation of a quintet as a "little" symphony, the idea of action in development (the core one in symphonic drama) is specified along the lines of the idea of spiritual ascension. The ontological process is indicated by the basic principles connected to the principle of chanting.

Boris Asaf'yev's Unpublished Marginalia in Modest Musorgsky's Manuscript Full Score of Boris Godunov

The subject matter of this article is related to the initial stage of the history of studying Modest Musorgsky’s orchestral style. The first scholars who got access to the composer’s manuscript full score were Boris Asaf’yev and Pavel Lamm. They edited the full score of the opera Boris Godunov for the première, which took place in Leningrad, at the State Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre, on February 16, 1928. It was the opera’s first performance in the author’s original orchestration after a half-century interval. Two short but fundamentally important articles by Asaf’yev, as well as his marginalia in the manuscript full score, opened a new stage in the scholarly and artistic perception of M. P. Musorgsky’s orchestral dramaturgy and orchestral style.

Questions of Counterpoint from the Perspective of Energy Concept of Ernst Kurth

The following article focuses on the concept of counterpoint, which is explored in context of the main thesis of the energy concept of Ernst Kurth. The work formulates the most important principles that reflect the psychological approach to music. The author analyses the phenomena of polyphony and homophony, their essential principles, and immanent features within the framework of the energy concept. The co-reliance between the “counterpoint” and “polyphony” is considered as such. A brief overview of the methods of teaching counterpoint from the point of view of different approaches to it is given.

The Evolution of the Jewish National Identity in the Work of Ilya Heifetz

The article is devoted to the instrumental work of the modern Russian-Israeli composer Ilya Heifetz. His life and creative path is divided into two stages: the Russian (until 1991) and the Israeli, in each of which the question of understanding his national roots arises with great acuteness. During his life in the USSR, in Omsk, despite all the integration into Soviet society, the composer feels himself to be different. This feeling is based on the national identity, which is complemented by the collective memory of anti-Semitism and maintained by fragments of traditions and folklore. In Israel, having found himself in a motley society of Jews from different countries, I. Heifetz continues to experience alienation and identifies himself more and more as a Russian Jew, relying not only on nationality, but also on such criteria as the Russian language, and specifically acquires through it the Russian culture and the Russian mentality. All this could not but affect the composer's work. The ‘Jewish’ theme, which is cross-cutting for him, includes many-sided aspects and subtopics in different periods. In the Soviet period, it is primarily Jewish folklore, the theme of the Holocaust and Jewish pogroms. After the move, these components are supplemented with new religious meanings and the theme of national conflicts in modern Israel.

Russian Biopics About Popular Soviet Musicians: Between Conventions, Past and Reality

The article deals with the dramaturgical and aesthetic patterns of the Russian TV series of the 2000s - 2010s, which provide insight into the lives of famous Soviet pop music artists. The main characters in the biopics studied were inspired by Leonid Utyosov, Pyotr Leshchenko, Lyubov Orlova, Anna German, Lyudmila Zykina, Valentina Tolkunova, Alla Pugacheva, Lyudmila Gurchenko, Edita Piekha, Valery Obodzinsky and Muslim Magomaev. The article gives an overview of the similarities in the development of historical and biographical film genres in Hollywood and Soviet cinema. Moreover, a brief introduction to Soviet films about musicians is provided. The main part of the research is devoted to the issues of adaptation of Hollywood conventions of the music biopic genre in Russia. Through the interaction of the Soviet past, Hollywood standards and contemporary Russian realities, the specific features of different narration types are revealed, the issue of authenticity is considered, and the status of pop music in the past and present is outlined.

The Role of Verbal Plot in Alla Zagaykevych's Instrumental Works (at the Example of "Gravitation" and "Friend Li Po..")

This article is dedicated to the creativity of the Ukrainian composer Alla Zagaykevych (b. 1966). She is the author of various works in contemporary art music genres. The presence of various verbal programs is the peculiar feature of her instrumental compositions. In the quality of verbal basis lines of poems, plots of literature works, different visual impressions etc. are used. From the point of view of the role of a verbal plot two chamber compositions by Zagaykevych are analysed. These works show the composer's interest in the spheres both acoustic and electroacoustic music. At the example of "Gravitation" for two cellos the specific of an ontological verbal plot realization is examined. "Friend Li Po.." for guzheng/bandura and electronics presents using of a psychological verbal plot. Generally, specific of verbal program causes the selection of compositional techniques, texture, structure, methods of tone-painting etc. in these works.

Two "Don Quixote" ballet performances by M.I. Petipa

The article discusses two "Don Quixote" ballet performances choreographed by M.I. Petipa in Moscow (1869) and St. Petersburg (1871). The plot, scene arrangement, choreographic dramaturgy, and genre characteristics of both author's editions are being discussed. A connection is traced between the reimagined dance routines for the performance in St. Petersburg and the innovations introduced to the libretto. Special attention is paid to the balancing of the two female parts – Kitri and Dulcinea, entrusted in Moscow to two different dancers, and in St. Petersburg combined into one role for a ballerina. Based on the eyewitness accounts and the information regarding the state of Moscow and St. Petersburg troupes, it is concluded that it was natural for Petipa to merge both parts, while the decision to separate them for the performance in Moscow was a compromise dictated by the dancers available.

Evolution of the "Screen-on-Screen" Motif in the Cinema

The motif of a screen as an element of the figurative matter of film is analyzed in the article. The author focuses on the period of silent cinema, when the main models of the use of "screen-on-screen" are formed. This motif can have different interpretations. The diegetic screen plays the role of the magical level of reality. It is also shown as a part of technical devices, fantastic and real. But the most significant and dramatic type of diegetic screen is precisely the screen in the cinema, the screen reality of cinema. The article examines the evolution of the attitude to screen reality: from a dismissive attitude, understanding it as a strange attraction to the perception of screen reality as the highest, ideal reality, getting into which becomes a dream for the characters.

Journal for Learning through the Arts

Volume 18, Issue 1, 2022
Volume 17, Issue 1, 2021
Volume 16, Issue 1, 2020
Volume 15, Issue 1, 2019
Volume 14, Issue 1, 2018
Volume 13, Issue 1, 2017
Volume 12, Issue 1, 2016
Volume 11, Issue 1, 2015
Volume 10, Issue 1, 2014
Volume 9, Issue 1, 2013
Volume 8, Issue 1, 2012
Volume 7, Issue 1, 2011
Volume 6, Issue 1, 2010
Volume 5, Issue 1, 2009
Volume 4, Issue 1, 2008
Volume 3, Issue 1, 2007
Volume 2, Issue 1, 2006
Volume 1, Issue 1, 2005

2022 Foreword

Missakian, Ilona V.

The editor summarizes and introduces the reader to the contents of the 2022 Journal for Learning through the Arts, Volume 18, Issue 1.

Arts and Sciences

Expanding equity in the early grades through art and nature study.

Brouillette, Liane

This article reviews evidence that children in the early grades benefit from aesthetic education and encounters with the natural world. The goal of kindergarten is examined, along with how the youngest members of a kindergarten cohort can be disadvantaged by an over emphasis on reading skills. Effective ways that early elementary teachers can awaken children’s desire to learn through hands-on aesthetic and nature study projects are described.

Winter, Her Dolphin Tale, and the Rise of Environmental Education

Saito, Carlos Hiroo

Dolphin Tale is a movie about a dolphin that loses its tail after being entangled in a crab trap line and obtains a prosthetic tail. The movie was presented to support environmental education classes at the University of Brasilia. Over a period of five years, 210 Brazilian undergraduate and graduate students answered questionnaires after watching it. The results demonstrate that the movie helped to accomplish environmental education goals: the comprehension of the role of scientific knowledge in solving socio-environmental problems, the impact of human activities on biodiversity, the novelty of the integrative interplay of different disciplines, and the importance of values in awareness.

1 supplemental ZIP

Language Arts

“beyond the 'ordinariness'”: arts-based teacher education.

Dallacqua, Ashley K. ;
Kersten-Parrish, Sara ;
Rhoades, Mindi

This article documents work with pre/in service teachers who are university students across three universities in three regions of the US, across multiple courses. Given our shared concern about the narrowing of space for imaginative literacy practices in schools, we focus on our collective use of open-ended, arts-based pedagogies as a way to challenge how we, as instructors, and our students conceive of literacy practices. A collection of Shaun Tan texts (including picturebooks, wordless graphic novels, and other multimodal/media texts for young people) served as focus texts across our three classroom contexts. We found surprise, a problematizing of narrow literacy definitions, and flexibility were all common ways of responding to this open-ended, arts-based literacy work. It resulted in tensions around and challenges of conventional or ordinary classroom literacy practices and pedagogical choices.

1 supplemental PDF

A Movement Rises to Change the Teaching of Reading: Low Test Scores Fuel Demands for Change

D'Souza, Karen

This is the first in an occasional series on the dramatic national push to revamp how reading is being taught in the earliest grades. This EdSource special report examines the state of early reading in California, the needs of special learners, teacher preparation and training and curricula and textbooks that are driving instruction.

Scripting the Curriculum: A History of Students Dramatizing Content Information

Flynn, Rosalind M

Prior to the 1990s, the term “arts integration” rarely—if ever—appeared in educational literature. The term may be new, but educators have been involving students in arts learning processes for centuries. In particular, teachers have long harnessed the power of drama to engage students in arts-integrated learning activities. Articles and books published between 1903 and 2018 reveal that student-written scripts comprised classroom learning activities in social studies, literature, and even science courses. Briefly contextualized in prevailing American educational ideologies, this research examines the history of the use of scriptwriting as an educational tool, sharing what teachers and students did, how they did it, how they described it, and why they endorse scriptwriting as a learning activity. The generations of teachers who authored the articles about their practices report academic and social benefits for their students as well as professional satisfaction for themselves. Their ideas, methods, topics, and insights may serve as validation and motivation for current educators. The goal of this research is to encourage today’s educators by familiarizing them with the significant history of this work and challenging them to continue to promote and implement artistic ways of learning.

Art Infused Literacy: Scaffolding the Writing Process with with Visual Strategies

Traue, Kimberly L ;
Stewart, Roger A

This article describes a classroom-based teacher inquiry project that incorporated the use of visual art strategies to scaffold the writing process for 2 nd grade students. The project was conducted in a rural Title I school in the Intermountain West. Designed by an art teacher, the Art Infused Literacy inquiry project applied the theory of transmediation, which is the “process of translating meanings from one sign system (such as language) into another (such as pictorial representation)” (Siegel, 1995, p. 456). This concept was of special interest to the first author since she recognized that transmediation could be a framework for bridging art and literacy teaching and learning. Many of her young students struggled with literacy skills and through transmediation she saw a way to organically support reading and writing in the art classroom. Being familiar with the content areas of both art and literacy, the first author had observed in her art classroom the similarities between how visual art and written works are created. Noting this connection inspired the following inquiry questions: (a) If salient concepts of the writing process are taught and practiced via exploration of the visual arts first, does this foundation provide a scaffold for students to transfer these concepts to the writing process? and (b) What visual strategies can be effectively employed to assist students in learning complex writing skills and achieving transmediation? A seven week interdisciplinary unit was designed and implemented in the first author’s classroom. Upon completion, this inquiry revealed synergies between visual arts and the writing process which resulted in positive student outcomes.

Teaching and Learning through the Arts

Effective learning in the modern classroom.

Nokes, Christopher

Abstract: Effective learning is viewed as an evolutionary process, and as such, it involves an expanded version of the Crenshaw-Collins view of intersectionality. It demands an in-depth view of the complex socio-cultural-ethnic milieu in which students are embedded. Even more, effective learning requires effectance problem-solving, investigation and semiotics, along with effectance motivation, to form a quadripartite framework for effectance holism, which becomes the foundation for equity. Equity in the classroom requires shared human experience, research, process, ideas, as well as product. Effectance motivation associates walking, awareness, attention, perception, thinking and adapting to one’s environmental conditions that encourage effective, competent interactions of students with their surroundings. Arguably, effectance, rather effective , motivation is evidentiary in childhood development, and is responsible for acquisition of increased intellectual awakenings in the home and in the classroom. However, effective motivation alone is self-limiting. I include effective problem-solving, investigation and semiotics into the equation. That students are active, constructive participants in the learning process is also evidentiary. With Susan Harter effectance motivation encompasses the developing intellect of children and evolution of their independence, mastery, competency and success. Against this background of scholarship research, Gardner’s multiple intelligences portray student success and motivation as a pathway only to stereotypical roles, without any educational value. In contrast, egosystem provides a viable framework for understanding students and their complex makeup. In fact, I argue that frames of reference should replace frames of mind . In terms of the value of learning through the arts, early modernism, especially Dada and Surrealism, have inspired students to reimagine their own art as having, not only intrinsic aesthetic value, but also extrinsic narrative value as social-political commentary. Essentially, art and design education must reimagine what students could do, if only they did not have to conform to a set curriculum, and were allowed to research art history on their own, explore their personal passions and experiment with various art forms.

A Mixed Methods Critical Review of the A+ Schools in NC: Making a Case for Fidelity in Frameworks

Wheeler, Kate

Quantitative findings from NC school report cards comparing 37 arts-integration public K-8 schools in North Carolina (NC) called “A+ Schools” with 37 traditional public K-8 NC schools revealed that the majority of NC A+ schools averaged lower EOG scores than the schools in their district. In this data sample, both A+ Schools and traditional schools’ scores in NC had a downward trajectory since 2001. Additional findings included increased arts classes offered at A+ schools and slightly decreased chronic absenteeism compared to traditional public schools. This data was triangulated with a qualitative analysis of three interviews: with the NC A+ Schools program director, with an arts director at an A+ school, and with a principal at an A+ school. Challenges to implementation within the NC A+ program are discussed as well as methods of preparation and practice that link these two high-performing schools to four highly acclaimed arts-integrated school programs. A five-part framework for arts-integrated schools is recommended: (1) the use of data-driven planning, (2) garnering funds, (3) collaboration between arts educators, arts specialists and classroom teachers, (4) ongoing professional development (PD), and (5) showcases of student work.

5 supplemental ZIPs

Arts Infusion: My Lived Experiences as an Elementary Visual Arts Teacher

LaJevic, Lisa

In this article, I present my lived experiences as an elementary visual arts teacher working in an arts-infused school. Investigating arts infusion as a form of arts integration, I introduce arts infusion and what it looks like in practice. Weaving together personal experiences, stories, reflections, lesson examples, and a literature review, I am inspired by narrative inquiry as a way of knowing and making meaning of past experiences and how reflective thinking can provide insight into the complexities of teaching and classroom practice. Reflecting on themes such as scheduling, time and space, participation, content knowledge, relationships and engagement, and support and funding, I highlight successes and challenges I encountered while working with arts infusion. Recognizing that many schools, particularly at the elementary level, are implementing arts integration, it is important to become aware of the lived experiences of those working in such programs and the possibilities their experiences, such as my own, have for growth and change. It is my hope more schools will acknowledge the potential for the arts and arts infusion in education.

Arts Education and Social-Emotional Learning Outcomes Among K-12 Students

Senior Advisor

Deputy Director

Senior Communications Strategist

1. What kind of theory of action describes the role arts education can play in children's social-emotional development?

2. What mechanisms of arts education can affect social-emotional competencies?

Social and emotional learning is a topic of increasing focus in the education sector. Though definitions and terminology vary, at its core this trend reflects an increased interest among educators, administrators, parents, and other stakeholders in students’ development of individual and interpersonal skills beyond the realm of academic achievement.

This project, conducted in partnership with Ingenuity , consists of two components: a review of literature on this topic and an interview-based fieldwork component with educators, administrators, students, and parents in Chicago Public Schools. The authors reviewed more than 200 studies on arts education spanning six decades. They also conducted focus groups and interviews with key participants in the arts education process—including educators, administrators, students, and parents—to evaluate evidence of the effects of arts education on social-emotional development in school and after-school settings. They found a widespread belief that arts education contributes to children’s and adolescents’ social-emotional development. Specifically that:

Exposure to arts opportunities allows students and teachers to engage with one another in a way that often stands in contrast to how they engage with each other in the context of regular academic instruction and that provides rich opportunities for social-emotional learning.
Arts education has social-emotional effects regardless of instructor intent—and these effects can be either positive or negative. Though arts education can be a powerful force in supporting students’ social-emotional development, the report’s findings caution educators to be intentional in the social-emotional contexts they create through their lessons to, as much as possible, promote positive interactions and help students process challenges and disappointments so they don’t end up feeling alienated or ashamed by their arts experiences.

Developmental experiences are at the core of social-emotional learning, and while the arts tend to lead in this regard—providing opportunities for young people to engage in experiences—educators at large could explore ways to translate arts education strategies to their own classrooms.

Key Takeaways for Educators

Be intentional about integrating social and emotional growth into an academic discipline. How an instructor teaches often matters more than what they teach.
Create safe spaces in which students feel comfortable taking productive risks, opening up to expose their own vulnerabilities, and being challenged.
Provide opportunities for students to engage in cycles of action (encountering, tinkering, choosing, practicing, and contributing) and reflection (describing, evaluating, connecting, envisioning, and integrating).

Click below to view a 90-second episode of GO FIGURE, with J.S. Puller explaining Figure 3 of this research (September 12, 2023).

Arts Education and Social-Emotional Learning Outcomes Among K-12 Students: Developing a Theory of Action

Related Resources

January 2020 Article How Arts Education Supports Social-Emotional Development A Theory of Action
October 2018 Literature Review Supporting Social, Emotional, & Academic Development Research Implications for Educators
June 2015 Report Foundations for Young Adult Success A Developmental Framework
June 2012 Literature Review Teaching Adolescents to Become Learners The Role of Noncognitive Factors in Shaping School Performance

Immersing Students in Sustainable Art Education

Recommendations and insights from art educator and tc doctoral student iván d. asin, a sustainability champion inside and outside the classroom.

As he approaches his 14th year teaching art in New York City, TC doctoral student Iván D. Asin recalls when he first strived for a more sustainable way of living. Art, Asin had realized, was not impervious to the pitfalls of overconsumption.

“Even if we had unlimited resources, that doesn’t mean we should abuse them or the world around us,” explains Asin, who moved to the U.S. from Chile, later began teaching, and then wanted to do more.

“When I came across the doctoral program in Art and Art Education at Teachers College, it just made sense,” says Asin, who leveraged insights from the program to establish the Center for Education and Sustainability (CAES), a nonprofit through which Asin helps art educators implement sustainable practices in their teaching. “Teachers College laid the framework for combining my passions for art education and sustainability to create something bigger.”

“Something bigger” was on full display recently at Teachers College, where Asin joined TC experts and others in helping 40 middle school educators incorporate sustainability and climate science into their teaching. In honor of the College’s recent Summer Climate Institute , Asin shares key insights from his art education and sustainability work.

Iván D. Asin discusses sustainable art education the 2024 Summer Climate Institute in July. (Photo: TC Archives)

Iván D. Asin leading a workshop at TC's Hollingworth Center. (Photo courtesy of Center for Education and Sustainability)

Doctoral student Iván Asin (center) speaks during a panel about interdisciplinary climate instruction, featuring Sian Zelbo, Rochy Flint, Courtney Brown, Sandra Schmidt and Ann Rivet. (Photo: TC Archives)

Sustainability is a mindset.

For Asin, embracing a sustainable lifestyle is more comprehensive than a simple list of to-dos. It requires a reframing of the world around oneself — one that rejects shallow demonstrations of greenwashing.

“If you ask people why they recycle or why they do the things they do, the answer is not much further than ‘climate change’ or ‘global warming.’ But when we see it as a lifestyle change, we’re inclined to contribute to something much bigger,” says the art educator, who recommends partnering with community members to leverage local resources, particularly in metropolitan areas, which makes all the difference.

Asin’s track record includes employing this strategy in a variety of contexts, such as at an orphanage in Lima, Peru, where Asin helped students create pigments and dyes from the abundant Tara seeds surrounding them. “It is crucial that we provide our students — regardless of their age — with enough intellectual tools so they can continue exploring the possibilities for developing a sustainable art studio on their own.”

Students participating in Asin's Mural Exchange Program. (Photo: Center for Education and Sustainability)

(Photo courtesy of Center for Education and Sustainability)

Strive for real, sustainable change with community partnerships.

It’s no secret that community building is key in widespread change. “The most important thing is to understand the local issues,” says Asin, reflecting on the Covid-19 pandemic as an example of the power of local thinking. “It’s much easier to get people to care when you’re talking about people they know – their neighbors, their kids, families— that has a much bigger impact. When it hits you closer to home, people want to get involved and take action. It’s the same concept for sustainability issues.”

The same sentiment applies to the classroom, too. “Often one of the greatest obstacles that schools face in successful, sustainable art education is connecting and having access to local community resources. It’s important that we create a genuine environmental consciousness so that our students feel compelled to act on what they have learned beyond the classroom walls,” Asin wrote in 2018.

“Focusing on being part of your smaller community is much more useful and empowering than looking too much at the global situation. At the core, what matters is your ability to talk about these issues.”

(Photo courtesy of Center for Education and Sustainability)

Learn more about TC’s recent Summer Climate Institute, which prepares teachers to integrate climate change into the classroom here .

— Morgan Gilbard and Jackie Teschon

Tags: Arts Arts Climate Change K-12 Education Student Profiles Sustainability

Programs: Art and Art Education

Departments: Arts & Humanities

Published Wednesday, Aug 7, 2024

Teachers College Newsroom

Address: Institutional Advancement 193-197 Grace Dodge Hall

Box: 306 Phone: (212) 678-3231 Email: views@tc.columbia.edu

Department of Economic and Social Affairs Social Inclusion
Meet our Director
Milestones for Inclusive Social Development.
Second World Summit For Social Development 2025
World Summit For Social Development 1995
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
UN Common Agenda
International Days
International Years
Social Media
Second World Summit 2025
World Summit 1995
Social Development Issues
Cooperatives
Digital Inclusion
Employment & Decent Work
Indigenous Peoples
Poverty Eradication
Social Inclusion
Social Protection
Sport for Development & Peace
Commission for Social Development (CSocD)
Conference of States Parties to the CRPD (COSP)
General Assembly Second Committee
General Assembly Third Committee
Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on Ageing
United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII)
Publications
World Social Report
World Youth Report
UN Flagship Report On Disability And Development
State Of The World’s Indigenous Peoples
Policy Briefs
General Assembly Reports and Resolutions
ECOSOC Reports and Resolutions
UNPFII Recommendations Database
Capacity Development
Civil Society
Expert Group Meetings

Article 24 - Education

1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education. With a view to realizing this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning directed to:

a. The full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, and the strengthening of respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms and human diversity;

b. The development by persons with disabilities of their personality, talents and creativity, as well as their mental and physical abilities, to their fullest potential;

c. Enabling persons with disabilities to participate effectively in a free society.

2. In realizing this right, States Parties shall ensure that:

a) Persons with disabilities are not excluded from the general education system on the basis of disability, and that children with disabilities are not excluded from free and compulsory primary education, or from secondary education, on the basis of disability;

b) Persons with disabilities can access an inclusive, quality and free primary education and secondary education on an equal basis with others in the communities in which they live;

c) Reasonable accommodation of the individual's requirements is provided;

d) Persons with disabilities receive the support required, within the general education system, to facilitate their effective education;

e) Effective individualized support measures are provided in environments that maximize academic and social development, consistent with the goal of full inclusion.

3. States Parties shall enable persons with disabilities to learn life and social development skills to facilitate their full and equal participation in education and as members of the community. To this end, States Parties shall take appropriate measures, including:

a) Facilitating the learning of Braille, alternative script, augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication and orientation and mobility skills, and facilitating peer support and mentoring;

b) Facilitating the learning of sign language and the promotion of the linguistic identity of the deaf community;

c) Ensuring that the education of persons, and in particular children, who are blind, deaf or deafblind, is delivered in the most appropriate languages and modes and means of communication for the individual, and in environments which maximize academic and social development.

4. In order to help ensure the realization of this right, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to employ teachers, including teachers with disabilities, who are qualified in sign language and/or Braille, and to train professionals and staff who work at all levels of education. Such training shall incorporate disability awareness and the use of appropriate augmentative and alternative modes, means and formats of communication, educational techniques and materials to support persons with disabilities.

5. States Parties shall ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access general tertiary education, vocational training, adult education and lifelong learning without discrimination and on an equal basis with others. To this end, States Parties shall ensure that reasonable accommodation is provided to persons with disabilities.

Next: Article 25 - Health

Search Search

Find Your Degree

Choose your path for a rewarding future with one of our career-oriented, tech-infused degree programs. Learn more about our degree pathways .

Keep Exploring

Get started on your future with a degree from New York Tech.

$88 million in Co-op earnings

The university of cincinnati boasts one of the largest co-op employer programs in the nation.

Each semester, University of Cincinnati students are put to work — in and out of the classroom.

Students who participate in UC’s cooperative education program get meaningful hands-on opportunities as they spend one semester studying on campus and the next semester working in their professional field, earning cash while they’re learning.

In the 2023-24 academic year, more than 8,300 students earned an estimated $88.8 million collectively through paid co-op experiences, according to self-reported data. That averages to nearly $10,700 per student per semester.

It’s an 18% increase in wages from the last reported co-op data.

Those collective earnings are even higher than the last reported earnings before the COVID-19 pandemic (approximately $75 million), officials say, due to rising hourly wages and increased co-op placements with UC’s growing enrollment.

“Co-ops are transformative for our students who apply what they have learned in the classroom to real-world experiences,” says UC President Neville Pinto. “As an added bonus, earning while learning goes a long way toward easing the financial burden on students and families.

“The university’s leaders understood this when they envisioned and invented the cooperative education model in 1906. We continue to embrace these advantages by expanding co-op opportunities to more and more UC students.”

By increasing the upward mobility of the individual, co-op can uplift families and communities as well, and that can have a lasting, compounding economic impact.

Annie Straka Associate Dean, UC’s College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies

The value of co-op

The data highlights the added value of co-op offsetting tuition costs. Earning money through paid co-ops helps students graduate with less debt, which has a lasting impact on their ability to thrive after college, says Annie Straka, associate dean in UC’s College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies.

“The cost of higher education is significant,” Straka says, “and the UC co-op model centers around connecting students with meaningful experiences that allow them to earn while they are in school and offset the cost of their education.”

For students and families, co-op equates to job security and an increased value of a degree. Andrew Matthews is a student in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science who works on co-op at Turner Construction.

“My parents love the idea of co-op because it puts you closer to having a full-time job,” Matthews says. “They also love that I am making money and doing it as I learn about construction management.” Read more about Matthews’ experience at Turner.

That financial benefit, Straka says, can have a ripple effect.

“The economic impact of co-op extends beyond the individual and makes a positive impact on communities. Students leave the university and continue to earn at a higher rate because of their ability to compete in the job market. By increasing the upward mobility of the individual, co-op can uplift families and communities as well and that can have a lasting, compounding economic impact.”

Co-op makes a statewide impact, too.

“Retaining top STEM talent in Ohio is a crucial component of continued economic growth in the state,” said JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef. “The partnerships that UC and world-class organizations have formed through the co-op program provide domestic and international students first-hand experience in dynamic local workplaces, which will help to keep these talented individuals in Ohio.”

Global founders of cooperative education

Cooperative education was invented at UC. In 1906, engineering dean Herman Schneider began requiring students to alternate between taking classes and working in the field. He would later become president of the university, with his co-op concept serving as a global model.

Over the past century, UC has continued to innovate on co-op. Today, the program is ranked Top 5 in the country, according to U.S. News & World Report.

Last year, UC introduced the College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies (CCPS) to better serve all students, including adult learners and industry partners. As a dedicated college, CCPS continues to collaborate with industry and collegiate partners to offer co-op and experiential learning opportunities for students, while expanding its mission to serve adult learners pursuing career advancement. The college also serves co-op employer partners who are interested in advancing their existing workforce.

“Our college is expanding into the adult education space to provide pathways for upward mobility for all learners through upskilling/reskilling and professional development,” says Straka. “That focus translates to our undergraduate programs as we want to provide support for students to build their skills and develop an appreciation for lifelong learning so they can continue to evolve throughout their careers after they leave UC.”

Employer endorsements

For employers, co-op is a valuable recruitment tool. It’s why UC boasts corporate co-op partners like GE Aerospace, Siemens and American Honda Motor Co.

Honda has had a long and successful relationship with UC, sourcing engineering and business students for co-ops, internship and full-time positions.

“We see our co-ops as a critical talent pipeline for positions,” says Daniela Evans, unit lead for college relations at American Honda. “Additionally, co-ops can get real-world, hands-on experience by working on projects that are directly tied to their area of study and give them a sense of what they may be able to do as a full-time associate.”

Many co-op students go on to work full time at their co-op employers after graduation, often with offers waiting for them before they don the cap and gown. And a few co-op students have gone full circle to work with UC as employers.

As a UC engineering student in the ’90s, Jeremy Jarrett worked for a local technology consulting company through co-op.

Kinetic Vision was at the forefront of predicting structural performance for everything from aircraft wings to machines that make diapers. Jarrett ran modeling simulations for national clients that are household names. He was one of seven employees.

Jarrett still works at Kinetic Vision today, which now employs 200 people — only now he is president and CEO.

“I guess you could say my first co-op job got me to where I am as president,” he says. Read more about Jarrett’s story.

Data source: Student pay is self-reported through UC Professional Assessment and Learning (PAL) or Handshake by UC students on paid co-op experiences fall 2023, spring 2024 and summer 2024.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by University of Cincinnati (@uofcincy)

Become a Bearcat

Whether you’re a first-generation student or from a family of Bearcats, UC is proud to support you at every step along your journey. We want to make sure you succeed — and feel right at home.

Ready to hire?

For over a century, the University of Cincinnati has brought tomorrow's leaders out of the classroom and into the workforce to drive growth across every industry.

Learn more about hiring from our nationally-ranked cooperative education program .

Additional credits

Photos: Andrew Higley Digital design: Kerry Overstake UC Marketing + Communications

Experience-based Learning
President's Office
Student Experience
Next Lives Here
College of Cooperative Education and Professional Studies
College of Engineering and Applied Science
Alumni Association

A legacy of service

August 10, 2023

Dr. Chris Lewis first visited Tanzania nearly 20 years ago as a UC medical resident intent on making a difference in the country. Now he’s instilling a passion for global health in a new generation of students through Village Life Outreach Project.

Inaugural class of Marian Spencer Scholars announced

February 8, 2022

The University of Cincinnati has awarded 10 high school students from Cincinnati Public Schools the new Marian Spencer Scholarship.

Good neighbors, better partners

June 10, 2020

UC, Cincinnati Public Schools work together to create something special at a new school.

A milestone centennial

March 8, 2021

In 1920, UC became the first university in the nation to open cooperative education — founded at UC in 1906 — to women.

Yahoo: Future University of Cincinnati Bearcats get surprised at...

January 28, 2022

News media highlight UC's Decision Day records as students get surprised with admission and scholarships.

Share full article

Supported by

Harvard Names Conservative Legal Scholar as Permanent Provost

John F. Manning has served as interim provost since March, and is considered a top contender for university president.

John Manning speaks at a podium next to a portrait of Justice Antonin Scalia.

By Anemona Hartocollis

Harvard University appointed on Thursday a conservative legal scholar as provost, the university’s second-highest leadership position. The move comes as Harvard faces a congressional investigation into campus antisemitism while bracing for a new season of student protests against the Israel-Hamas war.

In announcing John F. Manning as the new permanent provost, Harvard’s president, Alan M. Garber, described him as “the right person for the moment in which we find ourselves,” adding that he had demonstrated “both humility and wisdom” in his current role.

Mr. Manning has been the university’s interim provost since March. He and Dr. Garber, who was named as president this month , have longstanding ties with Harvard, beginning at the school as undergraduates. Their appointments appear to be an attempt at stability after Claudine Gay resigned as president in January , amid heavy criticism over her handling of pro-Palestinian protests and accusations of antisemitism on campus.

Their appointments also come in an election year marked by severe partisan division. Mr. Manning’s reputation for diplomacy and conservative credentials might prove advantageous in his role as provost, the university’s highest academic position, as Harvard continues to face immense pressure from congressional Republicans who have criticized it for not doing enough to protect Jewish students during protests.

Before becoming interim provost, Mr. Manning was the dean of Harvard Law School, where he earned plaudits for being engaged with students. As interim provost, he oversaw a working group on “institutional voice,” which led to Harvard’s decision in May that it would avoid taking positions on matters that were not “relevant to the core function of the university.”

Mr. Manning is considered a top contender to succeed Dr. Garber as president. Dr. Garber is set to serve in the role through the 2026-27 academic year, and the search for his replacement will begin in 2026.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in .

Want all of The Times? Subscribe .

IMAGES

An Analysis of Current Research in Studies in Art Education and the
Scholarly Sources: The A-Z Guide
State-of-the-Art Article Teaching third
FREE 10+ Article Analysis Samples in PDF
Journals
Scholarly Articles

COMMENTS

New evidence of the benefits of arts education
New findings provide strong evidence that arts educational experiences can produce significant positive impacts on academic and social development for students.
Arts in Education: A Systematic Review of Competency Outcomes in Quasi
Arts education in schools frequently experiences the pressure of being validated by demonstrating quantitative impact on academic outcomes. The quantitative evidence to date has been characterized by the application of largely correlational designs and ...
PDF Art for Life's Sake: The Case for Arts Education
The Case for Arts Education A REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON THE ARTS education was already in a state of crisis and dire need before the fraught year of 2020, and the pandemic has intensified that crisis exponentially. We regard our report as a celebration of the arts, a gesture of optimism, and, above all, a call to action.
PDF Reclaiming Arts and Culture in Education: The Fundamental Importance of
Despite overwhelming support for arts education, an increasing share of children is growing up without any exposure to the arts. Empirical evidence demonstrates a causal effect associated with arts education on cog-nitive and noncognitive development for children, influencing their life outcomes well beyond their initial entry into the labor ...
Full article: Learning in and through the arts
The four articles and the concluding commentary make intellectual contributions that bring together recent research developments related to creativity and the arts, including articles that analyze visual arts (in school classrooms), dance (in out-of-school learning environments), and architecture design (in a museum) as valued sites for learning.
Why We Need Arts Education
This review synthesizes previous research findings regarding the benefits of arts education, particularly in the visual arts, to suggest future educational directions in the United States. It recognizes the current trend in public education emphasizing accountability, which has resulted in diminishing attention to arts education.
Art Education Journal • National Art Education Association
Art Education is the official journal of the National Art Education Association. Art Education covers a diverse range of topics of professional interest to art educators and anyone whose interest is quality visual arts education. It is published bi-monthly in full color. Each issue features an editorial, six articles, and instructional resources, making Art Education a significant addition to ...
Creative Resilience: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Art Education
The themes documented in the journal through the art educational experiences of various authors—spanning from empowerment through art education, historical context, pedagogical frameworks and equity, and antiracism and social justice to community engagement and trauma reflection—underscore our collective commitment as educators.
Investigating the Causal Effects of Arts Education
As the first large-scale randomized control trial of arts learning in an authentic school setting, these findings provide strong evidence that the arts can produce meaningful impacts on students' academic outcomes and social-emotional development. Education policymakers should consider these benefits when assessing the role of the arts in ...
Full article: What Is (the Matter) With Art Education?
The materiality of art education, the object-centeredness of the field, and the use of materials to make those objects and images used to be more central to art education than what much of the recent scholarship suggests. Shifting away from how and what was mattered (made into objects and images) seems to have given way to how and what matters ...
Art Education
Art Education is published bimonthly: January, March, May, July, September and November. Topics deal with issues of professional interest to art educators and are suited to a diverse audience. Each issue of Art Education addresses a theme or topic. Manuscripts accepted for publication are scheduled for the earliest occasion on which a theme is covered or an article is felt to be appropriate ...
Delineating the Benefits of Arts Education for Children's
In this paper, we argue that in order for the study of arts education to continue to advance, we must delineate the effects of particular forms of arts education, offered in certain contexts, on specific domains of children's socioemotional development. ...
Prospects for the Development of Art Pedagogical Education: The Case of
The article analyzes the current problems of artistic-pedagogical education caused by the shift of emphasis towards general studies, causing damage in…
New Report Makes the Case for Arts Education: Recommends Access for All
A new report from the Commission on the Arts - Art for Life's Sake: The Case for Arts Education - sets forth recommendations to reverse the persistent decline in access to arts education in America. The report offers local, state, and national elected leaders recommendations in six areas, including elevating the arts, ensuring equitable access, and supporting educators.
ARTISTIC LITERACY IN THE PARADIGMS OF TEACHING FINE ARTS
The results of this study will serve as a basis for continuing research in this area of art education. The experience described in the article can serve as a prototype for higher school art pedagogy.
The Mind-Expanding Value of Arts Education
As funding for arts education declines worldwide, experts ponder what students — and the world at large — are losing in the process.
The art, science and technology studies movement: An essay review
This is a review essay based primarily on the 2021 Routledge Handbook of Art, Science, and Technology Studies, edited by Hannah Star Rogers, Megan K. Halpern, Dehlia Hannah, and Kathryn de Ridder-Vignone.It focuses particularly on the use of art for public engagement with science and technology and it also draws upon the following books: Dialogues Between Artistic Research and Science and ...
The 5th International Conference on Art Studies: Research, Experience
The proceedings "Art Studies: Research, Experience, Education" are the result of the 5th International Scientific Conference that took place at the State Institute for Art Studies (Moscow, Russia) on September 9-10, 2021. It was jointly organized by the State Institute for Art Studies, the China Academy of Art, and the International Scientific and Cultural Centre for Academic Contacts. The ...
Journal for Learning through the Arts
This article reviews evidence that children in the early grades benefit from aesthetic education and encounters with the natural world. The goal of kindergarten is examined, along with how the youngest members of a kindergarten cohort can be disadvantaged by an over emphasis on reading skills. Effective ways that early elementary teachers can awaken children's desire to learn through hands ...
A Historical and Global Perspective on Liberal Arts Education: What Was
Two of these, the U4 League, a consortium of four long standing liberal education institutions, and Quest University, which delivers a unique curriculum in a diverse academic culture, have potential to set new precedents for liberal education in Canada and could influence liberal arts reforms more broadly.
Arts Education and Social-Emotional Learning Outcomes Among K-12
Social and emotional learning is a topic of increasing focus in the education sector. Though definitions and terminology vary, at its core this trend reflects an increased interest among educators, administrators, parents, and other stakeholders in students' development of individual and interpersonal skills beyond the realm of academic achievement.
Immersing Students in Sustainable Art Education
"Often one of the greatest obstacles that schools face in successful, sustainable art education is connecting and having access to local community resources. It's important that we create a genuine environmental consciousness so that our students feel compelled to act on what they have learned beyond the classroom walls," Asin wrote in 2018.
Full article: Narrating arts education research impact in and through
We provide collaborative autoethnographic narrative accounts of our experiences as arts education researchers, located in Australia and Finland, of developing research impact narratives and consider the ways in which the development of impact narratives can shape researcher identities, research processes and epistemic cultures of disciplines.
The Benefits of Arts Education for K-12 Students
The Benefits of Arts Education for K-12 Students While arts programs often fall victim to budget cuts, they can be an important contributor to students' success at school.
Article 24
1. States Parties recognize the right of persons with disabilities to education. With a view to realizing this right without discrimination and on the basis of equal opportunity, States Parties shall ensure an inclusive education system at all levels and lifelong learning directed to: a. The full development of human potential and sense of dignity and self-worth, and the strengthening of ...
Degrees
Architecture & Design Biological & Chemical Sciences Business, Management & Marketing Computer & Data Science, Cybersecurity Psychology & Behavioral Sciences Counseling & Education Energy & Sustainability Engineering Health & Medicine
State Board of Educations Seeks Public Feedback On English Language
Today, the State Board of Education launched an English Language Arts (ELA) standards feedback survey to gather public comments on Tennessee's K-12 ELA standards. All Tennesseans are invited to review the standards. The survey will remain open through September 8th, 2024. The State Board of Education is charged in state law with adopting academic standards to provide a common set of ...
Susan Wojcicki, YouTube's Former CEO, Dies at 56
She had initially planned to get a Ph.D. in economics and become an academic, but her discovery of technology's potential changed her path, she said in an interview with Fast Company in 2014.
Co-op 2024
In the 2023-24 academic year, more than 8,300 UC students earned an estimated $88.8 million collectively through paid co-op experiences, according to self-reported data. That averages to nearly $10,700 per student per semester. It's an 18% increase in wages from the last reported co-op data.
Harvard Names Conservative Legal Scholar as Permanent Provost
Harvard University appointed on Thursday a conservative legal scholar as provost, the university's second-highest leadership position. The move comes as Harvard faces a congressional ...