In contemporary life and education, the local is marginalized in favor of large-scale economies of consumption that are indifferent to ecological concerns. The consequences of neglecting local human and natural communities include a degraded habitat, loss of wilderness, alienation, rootlessness, and lack of connection to communities. Critical…

This article discusses the results of a one-year study in a physically isolated school community in Queensland, Australia. The decision-making processes in the selection of school subjects became the focus for interviews conducted with the school community (students, parents, and teachers) and the vehicle for identifying the held conceptions of…

The term "visual culture" includes all manifestations of cultural life that are significantly expressed through visual aspects and interpreted through individual and shared experiences. Visual culture includes art, cultural practices, media images, and other forms. However, teaching visual culture involves more than extending the range of visual…

How to write, and the relationship between images and writing, has been changing within the academy. Some indication of this can be seen in the new composition texts that emphasize reading visuals or teaching students in our largely visual culture (e.g. Faigley, George, Selfe, & Palchik , 2004; Alfano & O'Brien, 2005; Ruszkiewicz,…

It is important for art teachers to understand how children develop artistically. This kind of knowledge is essential for choosing age-appropriate teaching strategies and content for the units and lessons that the art teacher develops. Beginning art teachers study developmental theory in educational psychology classes, but it seems that this is…

This paper presents a field experiment examining the effect of drama education on the psychological development of grades 1 and 4 students. The drama curriculum was delivered after school for one day each week for 16 weeks. Students in the experimental group attended drama education classes, whereas students in the control group took part in the…

The purpose of this article is to begin to articulate a model for collaborative arts integration curricula that honor the value of creative and critical thinking in the arts. It presents both challenges and possibilities in collaborations between arts and nonarts organizations and teachers by examining two collaborative programs: (1) A Theater…

In this article, the author describes how she maintains student interest with the use of advanced technology. The author is currently using an assessment tool in her classroom--the Classroom Performance System (CPS)--that actually brings cheers from her students. The CPS provides an objective way to measure student understanding by using…

China's education system has grown increasingly complex, creating the need for an annual critical review of the education system by China's top scholars. The "Blue Book of Education," as it is known in Chinese, has gained a reputation for offering the most penetrating perspective in China on educational reform and development. In this…

Late in 2007 New Visions for Public Schools, a New York City reform organization, received a grant from the C.S. Mott Foundation to organize select high schools and community partners into delivery systems that could improve student achievement. New Visions asked Policy Studies Associates, Inc. to provide research support for this effort in the…

Building upon a related 2005 panel presentation at the 25th annual Lilly Conference on College Teaching, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, the authors, several tenure-track assistant professors and tenured associate professors who have participated in a Research and Teaching Faculty Learning Community at Bowling Green State University, share their…

Why is it so important to keep the arts strong in schools? How does study of the arts contribute to student achievement and success? This paper is designed to answer these and other questions. It describes in nontechnical terms what the research says about how study of the arts contributes to academic achievement and student success. It offers…

This article draws on a wider body of research that explores whether art and design teachers (art teachers) and museum and gallery educators (gallery educators) hold conflicting conceptions of "critical and contextual studies". The data analysis focuses on what interviewees said about each other in relation to crossing boundaries between…

In recent years the arts have been introduced into many pre-service and in-service professional development programs for general education teachers. At the same time, pressure for immediate test-score improvement and standardization of curriculum has limited the creativity and autonomy of teachers. This study, the qualitative part of a…

Inquiry-based classroom activities require students to solve problems and answer questions that have more than one possible resolution. These types of activities stimulate critical thinking skills and dispositions in students. PreK-12 art classrooms are rich with opportunity for inquiry-based activities for children and adolescents. This article…