This article presents a project, Shapes of Water, funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, which gave music education students the opportunity to compose children's songs about climate change with the help of artists from two fields (contemporary circus and music) and a scientist (chemistry). The article outlines the ways in which the composing…

Learning intervention based on a "Mars and Space" exhibition was designed according to STEAM-education (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) principles and practices in order to bridge the gap between formal and informal learning. The cognitive learning of 12-year-old students in Finland ("N" = 306) showed a…

This article presents a discussion about primary school visual arts education from the point of view of social sustainability and in the context of teacher education in Finland. The study focuses on the student teachers' understanding and pedagogic thinking of the equality construction in visual arts. In this case study the research data comprises…

This study investigates the sociomaterial movements of student engagement in a school's makerspace. Here, we understand sociomaterial movements as emergent and relational, comprising complex dynamics of agency across students, teachers and materials in situated, culturally framed activities. Our study draws on data comprising 85 hours of video…

The present study explored pre-primary students' investigative activity during a longitudinal, integrative technology education project: the Power Creatures project. Investigative activity refers to the way young children act in a learning context that combines inquiry-based activities with creative hands-on activities, such as designing and…

The present article discusses the possibilities of interdisciplinary integration for teaching art to primary-school students in after-school activities. Integrated teaching, as one of the ways for putting into practice the socioconstructivist approach to learning and the theory of the guided construction of knowledge, is used as a basis for…

The Finnish National Core Curriculum (NCC), which took effect at the primary school level in autumn 2016, includes ICT competence for all school grades, and encourages pupils to document their working processes in crafts. However, the literature provides evidence of the barriers faced by teachers in integrating information and communication…

Arts and crafts are connected with a variety of emotions, and the prospect of teaching these subjects could be a source of other emotions, not necessarily positive. This study explores the feelings and attitudes of student teachers towards arts and crafts prior to any training within their degree course and examines any changes that occur…

This paper reflects upon international arts education action and relative local in-action. The first half of the paper provides a brief narrative of the World Alliance for Arts Education's advocacy work and the development of the UNESCO Seoul Agenda: Goals for the development of arts education. The second half of the paper highlights a dance…

More than 98 percent of children in Finland attend preschool, where different kinds of projects are carried out in order to strengthen the children's abilities. This article focuses on the effects of one arts education project from a school readiness point of view. The main question was, How did the Helsinki arts education project affect the…