Arts Education
Research shows that learning and cognitive development improve when educators integrate the arts, hands-on activities, and other creative endeavors into instruction, both in school and out. EDC develops innovative, interactive curricula and resources that allow students of all ages to develop academic skills while expressing themselves through such activities such as painting, building, singing, acting, and creative writing.
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TOUR EDC'S ONLINE
RESOURCES
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Nurturing Children's Creativity |
The PBS Parents Guide to Creativity Web site, designed by EDC’s Center for Children & Families and PBS, promotes creativity and adult-child interaction. Designed for parents and caregivers of children up to age nine, the site features 14 online games for parents and children to play together. The activities on the site are organized into three sections: “Sensory Stuff” invites open-ended exploration of color, pattern, and design; “Ideas and Explorations,” promotes self expression through such activities as composing haikus, designing murals, and composing and recording music on a pentatonic scale; and “Creativity Challenge” sharpens problem solving skills with puzzle-like activities.
Visit the PBS Parents Guide to Creativity Web site. 
Read a feature article about this Web site, which includes a link to a conversation EDC’s Christine Rafal had with the Washington Post. |
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Research on Integrating the Arts into Academics |
EDC’s Center for Children and Technology (CCT) collaborated with researchers at Northern Illinois University's Art Education Program and the University of Minnesota Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement to examine how students' artistic production can be used to assess the impact of arts-integration on student learning and to promote the development of instruments that can facilitate such assessments. The research resulted in the report, Artistic Production as Evidence of Learning in Interdisciplinary Context, which documents current assessment practices and offers new strategies teachers and artists can use to assess student learning through their art and art-related production.
Download a copy of the report (PDF file, requires Adobe Acrobat). |
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Guidelines for Successful Art Integration Programs |
Working in collaboration with Annenberg/CPB, the Lavine Production Group, and the Southeastern Center for Education and the Arts, CCT designed Web and print materials to accompany a series of professional development videos on the integration of the arts with other subjects.
The Art of Teaching the Arts: A Workshop for High School Teachers is an eight-part professional development workshop for use by high school dance, music, theatre, and visual art teachers. The workshop examines how principles of good teaching that apply to all subjects are carried out in teaching the arts at the high school level.
Learn more about this series on the Annenberg/CPB Web site.
Connecting With the Arts: A Workshop for Middle Grades Teachers guides viewers in discussing key elements of arts integration, enabling them to begin integrating the arts more effectively in their own schools. Participants define what arts integration means, plan collaborations with colleagues, clarify student roles in the artistic process, work on designing instruction that helps students explore big ideas, and examine assessments to determine what students are learning.
Learn more about this series on the Annenberg/CPB Web site. |
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Arts Integration Curriculum |
SmART Schools is a K–12 comprehensive school improvement initiative that integrates the arts with other core academic subjects. The project features five elements: (1) daily arts instruction in dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts; (2) rigorous, standards-based, arts-infused curriculum; (3) professional development and learning community; (4) inclusive school communities; and (5) school-community partnerships.
Read a feature article about SmART Schools.
Visit the SmART Schools Web site. |
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