research as evidence: how the arts enhance student learning

Margaret Sue Copenhaver Institute for Teaching and Learning

2010

Jan Norman, Ph.DNational Director of Education, Research & Professional Development

Young Audiences – Arts for Learning

Research As Evidence: How the Arts Enhance

Student Learning

Research As Evidence

What can research teach us about using the arts to enhancestudent learning?

Personal insights …

The Arts as Key to Students’ Learning

Research as Key to Making Arts Central to Basic Education

Arts Role as Key to our Nation’s Future

Research is a universally respected language for affirming arts’ value in teaching and learning

Arts Education Research means assessing:

(1) creative works and the process of producing them;

(2) the cognitive process of aesthetics, criticism, and creative thinking and problem solving.

Research as Evidence …

1. Historical advocates the arts in education

2. Successful examples of model arts programs

3. 20th Century influences of arts in education

4. Research Findings that help make the case


1. Historical advocates the arts in education2. Successful examples of model arts programs




Historical advocates the arts in education

Plato … All things we see are imitations of an “ideal”

God is at the top of the Ideal, the craftsman is second, and the artist comes last, because he is considered less productive and necessary to life than the craftsman.

The arts are viewed for the good they can do if they are beautiful.

The Ideal state included music, poetry, gymnastics, and visual arts – which offered a unity of life, wholeness and an orderly mind.

The Republic (Book Ten)



Aristotle … Described the first formal theory of art in aesthetics.

The purpose of the arts in education … to teach the delight of imitating subject matter, and to teach students to become critics.

Skill + Criticism = knowledge of life & perceptual development.



Froebel … Credited with the development of the kindergarten.

Used Play and the Arts as free use of sensory materials such as color, shapes, tones, and the manipulation of forms.

Concept of “free expression” …derived from German Idealism and revolutionized

20th century art education.



John Dewey … Universally recognized for integrating arts

in education

His basic premise on art is related to his theory of intelligence …a process that yields “an experience” as a product.

The “experience” is central to Dewey’s aesthetic theory … which distinguishes the aesthetic from the ordinary experience by the degree of intensity.



Progressive Movement of the Twenties …

Exploration of the arts in various cultures.

Inspired by School Arts and The Instructor magazines. Movement influenced by John Dewey, Charles Darwin, G. Stanley Hall, & Sigmund Freud



The Owatonna Art Education Project …

Movement of the 30s… funded by the Carnegie Corporation

Prototype of community arts programs

Arts in general education

Introduced the Artist-in-

Residence programs


1. Historical advocates of integrated arts




Research as Evidence… Successful Examples of Model Arts Programs

1960sEstablishment of CEMREL, federally funded regional lab…

Establishment of…Arts and Humanities Program in the U.S. Office of Education;

Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title III(1965) –

created funds for innovative programs in the arts;Arts programs for disadvantaged children (Title I)


1970s JDR 3rd Fund …to field-tests of concepts & the publication of the report,

Coming to Our Senses

“Artists-in-the-Schools”… included visiting artists in the school curriculum

Arts IMPACT … effort to demonstrate the arts as ideal and indispensible in humanizing the education of children and teachers.

Alliance for Arts in Education (AAE) established in each state:Created Arts for the Handicapped (NCAH), now

VSA Arts “Very Special Arts Festivals”

BASIC Building Arts systems Into the Curriculum – to infuse arts into curriculum

Our environment is what we make it. And how we shape it depends upon how we perceive it. Through the arts we can

learn to see our environment more clearly; to sense its color, song, and dance; and to preserve its life and

quality.

Coming to Our Senses

A Panel ReportDavid Rockefeller, Jr., Chairman


1980s Discipline Based Art Education (DBAE) …Funded by the Getty Center for Education in the Arts

The Discipline Based Art Education approach to curriculum combined experiences from four disciplines in the study of art:

Art Production Art Criticism Art History Aesthetics

Discipline Based Art Education merged the disciplines instead of teaching concepts from each discipline separately. There would not be a "Unit in Art History" or a "Unit in Aesthetics".

Research as Evidence…

1. Historical advocates of integrated arts


3. Arts Role as Key to Our Nation’s Future


Research as Evidence… Arts Role as Key to Our Nation’s Future

Based on the Research on How People Learn (HPL Framework)

Book: How People Learn By: Dr. John Bransford, Cognitive

Scientist

Published by: National Research Council

National Academy of Sciences

Arts for Learning LessonsLeveraging Learning

Using what you already know and can do

to learn new knowledge and skills

E.g. the Arts leverage learning in Literacy


21


Learning for Life and Arts for Learning

use the

IDEA Model A Creative Problem Solving

Model

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Identify focus and intended outcomes

Define existing knowledge and skills through teacher-led instruction and guided practice

Explore potential outcomes through cycles of

Independent Practice in literacy and the arts Reading, Writing & Artistic Creation

Reflection Revision

Selection of most effective work

Assess chosen solutions in order to perform/exhibit and inform an audience using arts, texts and literacy skills

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The IDEA Model guides GRADUAL RELEASE OF

RESPONSIBILITY

T S

T S T S T S

24

Research as Evidence…Arts Role as Key to Our Nation’s Future

IDEA Model teaches

Learning and Life Skills“Learning to Learn” (Metacognition)

“Leveraging Learning”

“Habits of Mind” for reflective thinking,

creative problem solving and critical thinking


Habits of mind that enable people

to be lifelong learners in all domains

Creativity

Critical Thinking

Communication

Skills aligned with the Learning and Innovation Skills in the Framework for 21st Century Learning, Resource and

Policy Guide


Creativity - thinking that is aimed at producing ideas or products that are relatively novel and that are in some respect, compelling. Robert Sternberg

Creativity, defined as four elements

Identified and measured in the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking

Fluency: the production of a great number of ideas or alternate solutions

Flexibility: the production of ideas that show a variety of possibilities or realms of thought; Seeing things from different points of view

Originality: the production of ideas that are unique or unusual; Synthesis or putting information back together in a new way

Elaboration: the process of enhancing ideas by providing more detail


Defining Learning and Life

Skills

Critical Thinking - reasonable, reflective thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe and do. Robert H. Ennis, Author of the Cornell Critical Thinking Tests

Guy Claxton”s (2002) Defines the Four R’s:

Resourcefulness: Learning in different ways Reciprocity: Able to learn alone and with

others Reflectiveness: Becoming more strategic about

learning Resilience: Being ready, absorbed, and

persistent in learning


Learning and Life Skills

Communication – A process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding

Two comprehensive skills for Communication

Articulate: Expressing oneself easily in clear, effective language

Collaborate: To work together on a joint project or enterprise, especially in a joint intellectual effort.


1. Historical advocates the arts in education




Research as Evidence… Research Findings that help make the case

Seminal Study Using Scientific Research

Arts for Learning Lessons ProjectUsing scientific research to evaluate student

outcomes of those receiving the Arts for Learning

(A4L) Lessons (treatment group) compared to

those who do not experience the Lessons

(comparison group)

31

Fall 2006 Fall 2007 – Spring 2008 Fall 2008 – Spring 2009

Fall 2009 – Spring 2010 In progress

Studies conducted by WestEd & University of Washington with coordination from National Young Audiences and

Affiliate Research Sites and Partnering Universities and School Districts


Arts for Learning Lessons

Research Studies & Reports

Research Findings that help make the case Research Results

2008 – 2009 School Year Arts for Learning Works

A4L improves student literacy learning

2008 – 09 study reinforced finding from previous research on the

effectiveness of the A4L Lessons in which students showed a consistent pattern of improvement in literacy skills and knowledge

Strength of Treatment Makes a Difference Adding a residency to a Unit or receiving more Units contributes to

greater gains.

Students Reading Below Grade Level Made Greater Gains Than Students Above or On Grade Level

Students Showed Engagement & Interest in A4L Lessons As before, students liked A4L as much or more than regular reading

lessons, thought it was easier and a good way to spend time, while also making significantly greater gains.

Primarily 5th grade students in three locations: Roanoke, Virginia, Hillsboro, Oregon, Tyler, Texas

Research As EvidenceResearch Findings that help make

the Case

Other Examples of Research

in Arts Education


Seminal Studies in Arts Education

Champions of Change

The Impact of the Arts on Learning

Research as Evidence…Research Findings that help make the case


Critical Links in the Arts

Learning in the Arts and Student

Academic and Social Development


For Additional Websites & Examples of Studies

Arts Education Partnership

www.aep-arts.org

http://www.aep-arts.org/

Research Findings that help make the

case

Developing Tools to Assess YOUR Program

In the “Age of Accountability”

in Education Time is Currency

How do we know it works?Where’s the Evidence?

The Bar Has Been Raised

for what “Best Practices in Evaluation

Should Be.

No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) – 2001and the Pending Re-Authorization - 2010

Support Arts Education

Arts are a Core Academic Subject

Funding Opportunities for new programs

After-School & Summer Programs

Research Findings that help make the case

Documentation Assessment

EvaluationThree Levels of Research

1. Documentation of what has occurred

2. Assessment – Measurement of Change

3. Evaluation – Analyzing and Interpreting the Meaning of that Change

Two Types of Evaluation

Formative: to help improve your program

Summative: to measure effectiveness

Perform & Inform

Showing What You Know

“Learning About Learning”

“We should all recognize that great research, like great art, will always need room for variations, new approaches, initial trials, and later refinement.”

Gordon Cawelti

Former Executive Director ASCD

For more information on research contact:

Jan Norman, Ph.D.

National Director of Education, Research and Professional Development Young Audiences – Arts for Learning

Phone: (843) 342-4800 Cell: (610) 608-9200

e-mail: [email protected]

research as evidence: how the arts enhance student learning

Documents

arts central

visual arts

school arts

basic education arts

century influences of

affirming arts value

evidence historical

education plato